Ruling data centres obtain electricity from green energy

Rules requiring data centres in Ireland to obtain most of their electricity from renewables creates green energy growth options, according to an Amazon lead.

Amazon Web Services country lead for Ireland, Niamh Gallagher, commented positively on the new ruling by The Commission for Regulation of Utilities that 80 per cent of data centres’ energy needs in Ireland must be taken from Irish renewable power plants.

She noted that this new ruling will create a long-term demand for renewable energy from data centres in Ireland.

Amazon reached agreements with Irish green energy plants capable of generating 310MW of electricity.

Solar and wind developers can be expected to gain from the CRU decision as their energy will become more in-demand.

Data centres have become a significant part of Irish business parks in the last number of years, with more on the way.

Amazon run data centres in the Greenhills Business Park on Greenhills Road and Cooldown Commons in Citywest, as well as other locations across the country.

Business parks such as Grange Castle in Clondalkin also house a notable amount of data centres.

Households paid an estimated €715m more in electricity bills between 2015 and 2023 due to the expansion of data centres in the country, according to a new report titled ‘The Cost of Data Centres’ by Dr. Seán Fearon, published by Friends of the Earth.

Based on its assumptions, the report suggested that households are set to face an additional €1.43 bn in electricity bills linked to data centre growth in Ireland in the next 10 years.