Government won't restrict data centres but outlines conditions

Energy burden created by centres acknowledged

Wed, 27 Jul, 2022 - 20:20

Paul Hosford, Political Correspondent

The Government has decided not to put any restrictions on the building of data centres, but has acknowledged the energy burden they create in a sweeping new policy.

Under a new statement issued by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, the Government said it will support data centres which create or support jobs, which don’t impede the national grid, and which contribute to the construction of renewable energy sources.

The newly adopted statement, an update of a 2018 policy, “recognises the significant capacity constraints on the electricity system in the short to medium term, and the need for decarbonisation of our energy system”, the Government said.

"Data is an essential enabler of our increasingly digital economy and society facilitating everything from remote working, online learning and e-health to online retail, food service delivery, banking, and payments.

However, we must align the twin transitions which are both digital and green.

"While data centres currently account for just under 2% of all greenhouse gas emissions, they are responsible for about 14% of Irish electricity use.”

From now on, the Government's stated policy will be that data centres will be supported where they are "associated with strong economic activity and employment".

Other considerations include:

Data centre developments that make "efficient use of our electricity grid, using available capacity and alleviating constraints";
Developments that can demonstrate the "additionality of their renewable energy use in Ireland";
Developments in locations where there is "the potential to co-locate a renewable generation facility or advanced storage with the data centre";
Centres that can "demonstrate a clear pathway to decarbonise and ultimately provide net zero data services";
Centres that "provide opportunities for community engagement and assist SMEs, both at the construction phase and throughout the data centre lifecycle".

Taoiseach Micheál Martin last week said there can be no moratorium on the building of data centres and that consideration must be given to companies which have been in Ireland for some time and want to expand with centres.

He said he had been lobbied on the issue by Japanese tech giants, who said ongoing investment may be contingent on data centres being built.

“When companies invest in Ireland, have a big presence in Ireland, they’re saying, ‘you can’t say you want all of our investment, but you can’t do anything with data centres’.

"We can’t say no to all data centres, because that potentially would be saying no to a lot of investment on the technology front, both on the digital and the bigger companies."

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