Planning application for north Dublin data centre withdrawn

The firm behind plans for a two-storey data centre in north Dublin has withdrawn its planning application.

The applicants, SDC Piperstown II Ltd, have written to Fingal County Council to withdraw the application for the centre. It was to be built on a 20-acre site in the townlands of Kilshane and Bay, on lands to the north of Bay Lane at Piperstown, Dublin 11.

The proposal also included an energy centre building onsite that was to provide electricity for the centre, with potential to supply electricity to the national grid when needed.

A planning report lodged with the application said that to work within current grid constraints, the proposed development did not propose to connect to the national grid until such time as EirGrid had confirmed that the grid was able to accept new data centre connections.

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[ Social Democrats leader objects to north Dublin data centre plan ]

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The planning report said that “therefore the development will not have an adverse effect on the electricity grid at any point and will in fact serve to bolster the grid long term as an additional capacity source in times of peak demand”.

The report said the proposed onsite power generation from the energy centre was intended as a power generation solution until the grid had sufficient capacity to connect data centres in the location.

A chief executive’s order for Fingal County Council confirmed the withdrawal of the planning application but contains no information as to why the application had been withdrawn.

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A number of objections were lodged against the scheme, however.

Dublin North-West TD Róisín Shortall told the council that “our antiquated electricity grid cannot sustain further data centres”.

In her objection, Ms Shortall also said that “granting permission for another data centre would further jeopardise our climate targets and put local water and electrical infrastructure at risk”.

Ms Shortall said that “in 2021, data centres accounted for 14 per cent of all electricity demand in the State and EirGrid estimated that they could account for 29 per cent by 2028. In the midst of an energy crisis, this level of usage must be stalled to protect our energy security.”

In its submission, anti-fossil fuel campaign group Not Here Not Anywhere told the council that “in the middle of an energy crisis, with Ireland’s electricity grid at risk of failure in winter, large wasteful users like data centres simply cannot be allowed to use any more of the nation’s gas and electricity”.