Reminded today during #election2020 of #theirishtimes article of late last year, it is important that we oversee the shift towards renewable energy across the big data centres in Ireland and recognise the efforts made so far and encourage much more…
Eirgrid reports that by 2027, electricity demand from data centres will have risen to 31 per cent of total demand. Greater Dublin’s electricity demand could double in 10 years, mainly due to the number of data centres planned by multinationals for the region. This means that over the next decade, demand for power in the capital will grow by the same amount as it did over the last 100 years. Tech companies claim that they source 100 per cent renewable energy for data centre operations. But short of going off-grid and generating their own energy, such claims don’t amount to much. Despite recent investments in wind energy, data centres here still rely on Ireland’s national energy grid, which continues to be predominantly powered by fossil fuels.