The rise and rise of data centres in Ireland

Updated / Wednesday, 17 Aug 2022 16:02

Analysis: Data centres in Ireland are now consuming more metered electricity than all of our rural homes put together

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There are currently about 70 data centres in Ireland that are up and running and 65 of them are in the greater Dublin area. Tech companies like Amazon, Facebook and Google all have data storage facilities here.

Data centre providers choose Ireland for a number of reasons. Ireland is politically stable, with a very intelligent workforce, as well as "incredibly generous corporation tax profiles," says Deane. The corporation tax in Ireland is 12.5%, the second lowest in Europe. We also has a good climate for data centres; it’s not too hot and not too cold, we are geographically and tectonically stable, with no earthquakes, volcanoes or forest fires.

"The other obvious thing is that a lot of the big corporates, the Googles and the Facebooks, already have their headquarters here in Ireland. So by co-locating their data centres here, it keeps them local, keeps them nearby," he says.

A typical large data centre on the outskirts of Dublin could be consuming as much electricity as Kilkenny City, says Deane. Electricity consumption by data centres increased by 32% from 2020 to 2021, according to the latest figures from the Central Statistics Office. The figures show that data centres (14%) are now consuming more metered electricity than all of Ireland’s rural homes put together (12%). Eirgrid, Ireland's electricity grid operator, has said this could rise to 30% by 2030.

"Globally, the electricity consumption from data centres is about 1%. Relatively benign, almost negligible, when you think of the huge benefits that they enable across our society," Deane says. But in Ireland today data centres account for 14% and that’s what makes Ireland unusual and an outlier at a global level in terms of the electricity consumption from data centres.

"In Eirgrid’s own submissions, they talk about an average data centre being 60 megawatt, which is about the size of a small town," Bresnihan says. "But the hyper scale data centre, these are the big ones usually categorised as being more than 5000 servers, you’re talking anywhere between the range of 60 and 200 megawatt.

"When you look at the figures, it’s just astonishing how big they are. If you compare internationally, Singapore is one of the next biggest countries in terms of the draw-down on the grid, I think it’s 7% of Singapore’s grid and we’re 14%, and Singapore brought in a moratorium on data centres about two years ago."