The proliferation of data centres has seen Ireland’s grid 'go into emergency mode' this summer, columnist Fintan O'Toole has argued. 

Last year, data centres accounted for 23% of energy use in Ireland and that figure is forecast to rise further in the years ahead. 

By 2030, roughly one third of all energy generated in Ireland is expected to power data centres. 

On The Claire Byrne Show, Irish Times columnist Fintan O'Toole called for an “objective assessment of what's going on”. 

“In July, the Governor of New York State, Cathy Hochul, announced a moratorium on new hyperscale data centres,” he explained. 

“She said the scale and speed of development has put unprecedented demand on energy and water resources and threatens to drive up utility costs. 

“Before it goes any further, I need safeguards in place to protect New Yorkers. 

“Now, we are about four times per capita beyond where New York is.”

A data centre. Picture by: Dmitriy Shironosov / Alamy Stock Photo

Mr O’Toole continued that the Government commissioned a report by KPMG into the matter, but been uncomfortable with some of its conclusions. 

“We then subsequently discovered that from Freedom of Information requests that when KPMG submitted the report, it was sent back to them to remove all the negative elements of this,” he said. 

“Basically, we've got governments acting as a propaganda arm of the data centre industry.”

Mr O’Toole added that further expansion of data centres should be considered in the context of the pressure they place on the grid. 

“Twice this summer, the electricity grid has had to go into emergency generation mode, right?” he said. 

“So we're running out of electricity; half of all the electricity in the Dublin area is used by data centres.

“22% of all electricity around the country is used by data centres - this is already set to rise to 30% by 2030. 

“It's not theoretical; we're seeing the grid going into emergency mode.”

'$3 trillion worth being invested globally'

Also on the programme, Irish Data Centre Supplier Alliance Chair Tom Parlon noted there has been a moratorium in Dublin on new data centres over the past four years. 

“The Government has now come up with this large user policy and it basically says that for any new hyperscale data centre built here, that you'll have to have onsite generation with a minimum of 80% renewable energy,” he said. 

“That's lifted the bar very, very high, almost making it impossible I would say. 

“The regulatory and the compliance hurdles for data centre projects here are extremely high.”

Data centres are required to power the vast growth of digital services and data that human uses in modern society; it all means that their construction has become a lucrative business. 

“Data centre and digital infrastructure growth is going to [see] about $3 trillion worth being invested globally,” Mr Parlon said. 

“We have about 200 companies here that I represent, the bulk of them, that are involved in that industry, that developed their skills here when there was a big expansion in Ireland, when the Amazons and so on.” 

Main image: A data silo Picture by: Alamy/Sven Hoppe.