Republic of Ireland: EirGrid halts up to 30 potential data centers

The pressure on the Irish power supply is starting to bite, as state-owned grid manager EirGrid announces that it has stopped talks with dozens of data center companies and halted plans for up to 30 data centers. Currently, there are some 70 data centers in the State, which have become a huge drain on energy supplies, and a real threat to the State’s carbon emissions targets. At present, data centers already suck up 10% of the country’s electricity supply, which is predicted to grow to 30% by 2030.

In a statement, EirGrid commented: “EirGrid were considering applications for a grid connection offer from just under 30 data centre projects at the time of the publication.” Adding: “EirGrid are now applying these criteria to all data centre applications. In doing so, the majority of the applications referenced above have been, or are in the process of being, closed out in line with the CRU direction.”

This news follows IDA Ireland warning that data centers are an integral component of the technology center and that discussions around electricity supply were “unhelpful” to efforts to establish Ireland as a global business hub. This was echoed by the likes of Google, who argued that a moratorium on data centers would send the “wrong signal” about the State’s ambition as a digital economy.