'Meath data centres will use the same energy annually as 950,952 homes'

Based on planning files for proposed data centres, Cllr Moore estimates that the five Meath data centres would use the annual usage of a million homes.

Calls have been made for a moratorium on data centres, as it emerged that the five data centres which will be based in Meath will have the annual energy usage of nearly a million homes.

Following Minister Eamon Ryan’s failure to rule out electricity blackouts this winter, EirGrid has said that the North South Interconnector would increase the security of supply, but this has been rejected by the North East Pylon Pressure Group as “irrelevant” and said EirGrid “pushed to shut down fossil fuel generation plants before a realistic transition to higher renewables penetration could be reached.”

There are already two data centres operating in the county, two more have been granted planning permission and another is going through the planning process.

Based on planning files for proposed data centres, Cllr Moore estimates that the five Meath data centres would use the annual usage of a million homes.

“Meath’s five data centres will use as much energy annually as 950,952 homes. This is almost half the housing stock in the entire country.”

“This comes at a time when the energy regulator has warned that we face rolling blackouts if immediate action is not taken to mitigate this risk. Despite this, it appears that the Government are content to continue promoting the proliferation of data centres without any sort of strategic analysis of the impact of data centres on our climate target goals and energy security.”

Cllr Moore said while he recognised the role that data centres play in many important internet-based services, there is also an exponential rise of redundant information stored in these data centres.

“We need to wake up to the fact that the ‘cloud’ is not some magical place in the sky that the internet operates from but giant warehouses - tens of thousands of square metres wide - that use huge amounts of electricity.

“We need to impose a moratorium on the construction of new data centres until we have more information about the risks that data centres pose to both our energy security and our climate target goals.”

Deputy Darren O’Rourke TD also called for a moratorium on new data centres until an economic, environmental and energy security impact risk analysis has been carried out.

“People will have been shocked to hear Minister Eamon Ryan not ruling out electricity blackouts this winter.

“This represents a disastrous failure of Government policy to manage and balance our electricity needs.

“The last Government set a target of making Ireland the data centre capital of the world, with absolutely no thought about the impact this would have on our carbon emissions or electricity supply.

“The current Government has not changed approach and the warnings from EirGrid and the CRU are falling on deaf ears in Government Buildings.

“The Government’s red carpet rollout for data centres is now risking the lights going out and widespread social unrest, not to mention the irreparable damage it will do to our climate and to the climate movement.

“It is clear the uncontrolled and ill-conceived Government policy which has encouraged the rampant expansion of data centres here, is now threatening the electricity supply to Irish households and businesses, and that’s simply unacceptable.

“The growth of data centres is also jeopardising the state’s 2030 target of reducing emissions by 51 per cent, a commitment less than three months old.

“The Government seem to know very little about the impact of data centres, whether their current or future energy consumption, tax reliefs, water use or economic value,” said Deputy O'Rourke.

A spokesperson for EirGrid said the company's analysis shows that further transmission links between Ireland and Northern Ireland would significantly enhance generation adequacy in both jurisdictions.

“The analysis shows that the North South Interconnector would increase the security of supply for both jurisdictions.

“The Kildare-Meath Grid upgrade will help to more effectively transfer power to the east of the country and distribute it within the electricity network in Meath, Kildare and surrounding counties,” he said.

A spokesperson for the North East Pylon Pressure campaign said“Minister Ryan has been on an ego trip of wanting Ireland to be a world leader in the level of renewables generated to meet our electricity demands.

“He has been ably abetted by EirGrid in pushing to shut down fossil fuel generation plants before a realistic transition to higher renewables penetration can be reached. “

He recalled the EirGrid CEO said last April that they signed off on their incapability to operate the power system at 70 per cent renewables on an instantaneous basis and we are the only country in the world operating at this level.”

“The North-South Interconnector project is not a relevant factor regarding the current supply challenges. For this reason the current supply challenges should not be used as a tactic to push for forging ahead with the NSI and look for exemptions or short-cuts," the NEPPC spokesperson warned.

He added that the delays in progressing the NSI project had been caused by EirGrid itself.

“The original planning application in 2009 had to be withdrawn in 2010 due to errors and was not re-submitted until 2015. The second planning application requested numerous modifications and did not seek land access for construction. Likewise, the NI submission has been found wanting and is currently the subject of a court challenge,” he said.