The Irish Government has published a revised Statement on the Role of Data Centres in Ireland’s Enterprise Strategy.
Recognising that data centres in the ROI currently account for just under 2% of all greenhouse gas emissions but are responsible for about 14% of Irish electricity use, they have brought forward a new set of agreed principles to “harness the economic and societal benefits that data centres bring, facilitating sustainable data centre development that adheres to our energy and enterprise policy objectives.”
The six agreed principles are as follows:
Economic Impact: The Government has a preference for data centre developments associated with strong economic activity and employment.
Grid Capacity and Efficiency: The Government has a preference for data centre developments that make efficient use of our electricity grid, using available capacity and alleviating constraints.
Renewables Additionality: The Government has a preference for data centre developments that can demonstrate the additionality of their renewable energy use in Ireland.
Co-location or Proximity with Future-proof energy supply: The Government has a preference for data centre developments in locations where there is the potential to co-locate a renewable generation facility or advanced storage with the data centre, supported by a CPPA, private wire or other arrangement.
Decarbonised Data Centres by Design: The Government has a preference for data centres developments that can demonstrate a clear pathway to decarbonise and ultimately provide net zero data services
SME Access and Community Benefits: The Government has a preference for data centre developments that provide opportunities for community engagement and assist SMEs, both at the construction phase and throughout the data centre lifecycle.
Any new data centre developments which are not consistent with these principles would therefore be deemed to be against government policy and not permissible.