Dublin: Energia Group granted permission for data centers in Dublin, Ireland

Energia Group has announced that Fingal County Council has granted the company planning permission for two new data centers next to the Huntstown Power Station in Dublin, Ireland. The two facilities, known as Buildings A and B, are expected to have a gross floor area of c. 37,647 sqm (400,000 sq ft) each. The company initially filed for planning permission back in November 2021. 

That said, despite being given the go-ahead, the project, which will see an investment of around €87 million ($93m) in the project, is not without opposition. Not Here Not Anywhere, a group campaigning to end fossil fuel exploration, has voiced its concerns around the proposal featuring ‘gas engines and diesel generators and fuel tanks, which will result in fossil fuels being used to both power the data center and act as a back-up energy source’. According to reports, the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) declined to comment on the proposal when asked by Fingal County Council.

At present, the site is greenfield and used for agricultural land and the company is set to demolish two residential dwellings as part of the project.