Data centre moratorium could strangle digital growth and impact carbon targets

There is a de facto moratorium on the building of new data centres in Dublin, with recent electricity grid connection applications being blanketly rejected due to a lack of clarity in connection policy from the energy regulator and Government.

These rejections are being issued regardless of whether the operator commits to flexibly supplying its own power to support the grid when it is constrained. This is wrong, and it is time for collective action that will allow the industry to grow sustainably to support our economy and decarbonisation.

It is important to remember just how essential data centres, and the digital connectivity that they enable, are to our everyday lives. Hospital equipment and diagnoses rely on this connectivity, our transport systems and electric vehicles require it, the food we eat – from source to plate – needs it. Even the vital technologies that will enable a sustainable future, such as solar, wind and energy storage innovations, rely on it.

The data centres being built today can operate flexibly off the electricity grid

Data centres have enabled Ireland to position itself as the home and catalyst for novel digital innovations that are globally significant and that directly support organisations and people at home. Ireland is at the heart of the digital world and it is in all our interests to ensure that this continues. This means that the data centre industry must be allowed to grow in tandem with rising volumes of data, while being located near the main cities to ensure high-speed connectivity for customers and end users.

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Limiting the growth of these facilities threatens foreign direct investment into this country, along with our digital economy and modern life.

Data centre operators are collectively working to become the solution to our squeezed grid while also having a positive impact on our national carbon reduction goals. These efforts will be particularly important as winter approaches and the nation’s electricity use, and therefore demand on the grid, increases.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) reports that data centres are becoming increasingly efficient, with their energy consumption not growing at the same rate as the expansion of the sector. That is because they can provide services to the grid; not in five years’ time, not even next year: they are doing it right now.

Data centre operators are collectively working to become the solution to our squeezed grid

The data centres being built today can operate flexibly off the electricity grid. This means that during times of the highest electricity demand – when dinners are being made, children’s baths are being run, and central heating switched on – data centre facilities can switch off from the grid and use their own backup power supply.

This is something that we at Equinix are currently doing in Ireland by investing in high-efficiency natural gas generators as the alternative source of power. In doing so, we are already making a difference to grid capacity using a power source that is recognised by the IEA as the best available backup energy source in the global transition to renewable electricity.

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We are, however, committed to investing in biomethane gas production in Ireland as a sustainable alternative to natural gas.

Investments in energy storage solutions are enabling data centres to store excess renewable energy, which would otherwise be wasted, and use it during periods of high electricity demand to take pressure off the grid.

Further investments are being made in district heating projects, which see excess data centre heat being used to provide the year-round heating requirements of vital public infrastructure and communities. Equinix is currently exploring one such district heating project in Dublin’s Blanchardstown area and is also leading an EU-funded trial of hydrogen fuel cells as the power source in one of our data centres in Milan.

Ireland is at the heart of the digital world, and it is in all our interests to ensure that this continues

Once successful, and where there is a supply of green hydrogen available, the hydrogen fuel cell solution can be applied to our business exchanges in Ireland and globally.

While the industry makes a collective effort to support the grid, it is also investing in its future. Data centres are a big driving force behind the generation and procurement of renewable energy, which will be fundamental to supporting the modern, digital society that is currently under threat.

Data centre-funded corporate Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs), which form a big part of Equinix’s global renewable energy strategy, enable renewable power projects to get off the ground, without government subsidies, and increase our supply of renewable energy locally – underlining the imperative for our grid to receive the investment it needs to cope with the requirements of modern life.

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These are practical and real solutions being implemented right now, not lofty ambitions. However, the current trend of finger-pointing, and misunderstanding, risks curtailing a transforming industry that is central to our lives.

Those reading this article online are relying on data centres. Streaming documentaries, virtual calls, webinars and emails require them too.

We are abundantly aware, as a company, industry and nation, that we are all in a worsening climate situation that urgently requires action. Ireland, with its pedigree in technology and innovation, is well-positioned to lead the way. To claim that this can be done without data centres is blinkered and, at worst, irresponsible.

Now is the time to work together and allow data centres to drive and facilitate real change, and do our part to support decarbonisation.

Peter Lantry is managing director for Ireland with data centre operator Equinix