Ireland’s Galway County Council has granted Apple a five-year planning permission extension for its Athenry data center. The facility had been canceled since 2019, but Apple applied to extend the site’s planning permission till November 2026. Apple first purchased the site in 2014 for $15 million, and it also gained its first planning permission in 2015. However, the firm faced a lot of troubles that slowed down any progress for a data center on the land. It received over 20 appeals since it secured permission from the Galway County Council.
While it is unclear whether or not construction will commence on the site, it now has a five-year planning permission extension, courtesy of Galway County Council. Fine Gael Galway East TD, Ciaran Cannon, has said the extension is a "positive development", but environmental groups and politicians are unsure.
Adrian Curran, Galway representative for People Before Profit, for example, has commented that the extension granted to Apple is "environmentally disastrous." Joining the many voices of climate activists fighting the crisis, Curren said that by 2030 these data centers operating in Ireland will consume 30% of the State's total electricity demand. This, he says, will swallow "over half of any increase in renewable energy" in the next ten years.
For those thinking that the project will bring economic benefits to the region in the form of jobs, Current says they have been "misled." "In reality, its benefits for Athenry are doubtful. These vast warehouses do not provide plentiful or sustainable employment as they need limited maintenance, and they also create few secondary jobs," he said.
Apple's planning application outlined that the extension is being sought in order "to provide adequate time to facilitate the provision of the subject development." Some have interpreted this to indicate that the company is buying just more time to facilitate a sale. That said, considering the recent stark warning around the climate crisis, this is not a risk some want to take.
