Government launches plan to encourage development of data centres

The Government has announced a new plan to address barriers affecting data centres, particularly around energy use.

The Large Energy User Action Plan (Leap) aims to see the location of new businesses with large demands better planned so that they are constructed near renewable energy sources.

Launching the plan, Minister for Enterprise Peter Burke said: “We’re trying to manage the digital and the green transition together.”

However, while the plan “anticipates” most new energy-intensive businesses will be built in “strategically prepared, nationally planned locations” it will not prevent them being built in other areas.

Leap aims to attract investment in “energy-intensive sectors” including semiconductors, pharmaceuticals and data centres to Ireland.

Data centres only employ around 21,000 people in Ireland, while consuming 22% of the country’s metered electricity.

But the minister responsible for energy, Darragh O’Brien, said they are “central to Ireland’s economic and digital future as they are a key part of our foreign direct investment (FDI) and the associated employment”.

He added: “Many of the significant employers in our state need to see a horizon of certainty when they’re investing.

“FDI isn’t like a tap, you can’t turn it off for a few years and say we’ll come back to it in five years’ time.”

The plan will work alongside new rules issued by energy regulator the Commission for Regulation of Utilities which were outlined in December.

Under this policy new data centres connecting to the grid must provide their own power, rather than relying solely on the national grid.

And 80% of it must come from new renewable energy projects in Ireland and will feed back into the national grid.