EirGrid has made a decision on data center building in Ireland. The state-owned electric power transmission operator has outlined that it will not accept any further applications to build facilities in Dublin for "the foreseeable future" and perhaps not until 2028.
That said, the data center applications already submitted will go forward, (however it has not outlined how many data centers this is), while in the rest of the country, applications will be considered on a "case-by-case" basis." This is in spite of EirGrid issuing seven amber alerts in the last year regarding warnings around energy supply.
The announcement that there will not be a moratorium on data centers is a blow to environmentalists who have repeatedly highlighted the danger of increasing the number of facilities in the country, at the detriment of the environment, and endangering the country's net-zero goals.
Clondalkin Councillor Francis Timmons, speaking to Dublin Live, expressed he was glad to hear the news: "It's time the genuine concerns of people are listened to and data centers are putting a potentially unsustainable strain on the nation's electricity grid so the news of no new applications to 2028 is good," he said. "This is a moratorium on data centers for a decade. However, there is still a lot of data centers built, planned or in the process and this is bad news for the average person relying on electricity for their day-to-day needs."
