Business

Google, Amazon and Microsoft urge State to let them build private power wires for data centres

Seen & Heard: Big Tech seeks more power, Intercom’s Irish boss attends Trump fundraiser while Harris is urged to call election before Christmas

The Government has promised to publish a policy on private wires in the last quarter of 2024

Sun Jun 9 2024 - 11:22

Amazon, Google and Microsoft have urged the State to allow them to connect directly to solar and wind farms to power their data centres, claiming it would ease pressure on the grid amid ongoing restrictions on new developments in Dublin, the Sunday Business Post has reported.

The tech giants, which employ more than 10,000 people in Ireland between them, are among the businesses claiming they should be given permission to build their own “private wires” to connect directly to solar and wind farms.

The Government has promised to publish a policy on private wires in the last quarter of 2024 – as part of which it is considering lifting existing restrictions, which mean only the ESB can build a power line to connect a business or household to the grid.

Some private companies have said they would be able to put new power lines in place much quicker and cheaper than the ESB if they were allowed to do so, amid severe constraints on the country’s energy grid.

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Intercom’s Eoghan McCabe attends Trump’s $12m fundraiser

Eoghan McCabe, the chief executive of Irish tech company Intercom, was among the attendees at a Silicon Valley fundraiser for Donald Trump at which the former president raised $12 million (€11 million), the Sunday Business Post reports.

The Dublin-born entrepreneur, who founded Intercom in 2011, posted a photo of himself posing with Trump on X, formerly Twitter, on Friday, at an event hosted by Silicon Valley investor David Sacks.

In the post, McCabe said he had spoken with six people at the fundraiser, adding that “none identified as Republican” and that “all voted or donated Democrat in the past”.

“Now they’re backing this guy for his policies on war, immigration, crypto, and more. This election is a referendum on those issues,” McCabe wrote.

Taoiseach urged to call general election by Christmas

Ministers are braced for a possible general election before Christmas after support for the Coalition ­parties held steady while Sinn Féin suffered a series of damaging setbacks across the country in local and European elections, the Sunday Times reports.

The possibility of a general election being called for November is being discussed among Ministers, some of whom believe Taoiseach Simon Harris could and should go to the country after the budget in October.

“November is quite possible,” a Cabinet member said. A second senior Minister said: “He should go in November.”

Privately the Taoiseach’s allies acknowledged last night that a November election was possible while insisting that Harris’s preference remained to go to the country in March 2025.

“The moment is after the budget or in March. Regardless of [these] results, they are the two moments of decision,” a senior Fine Gael source said.

Crypto infrastructure firm Ramp Network plumps for Dublin

UK-based crypto infrastructure firm Ramp Network is to make Ireland its European headquarters and has established a team and operation in Dublin, and is the latest crypto-focused firm to do so recently, the Sunday Independent has reported.

Ramp’s chief risk and compliance officer Steven Eisenhauer told the Sunday Independent that Ireland is a key destination for crypto firms ahead of a new regulatory framework to govern the sector.

“Ireland’s really been picking up a lot of steam and is punching above its weight,” said Eisenhauer, with about 12 virtual asset service providers registered here.

New jets critical to US expansion at risk in Aer Lingus pilots row

Aer Lingus is at risk of losing out on half a billion euros worth of new aircraft critical to its transatlantic strategy as a damaging pay dispute threatens to scupper its growth plans, the Sunday Business Post reports.

The airline is locked in a deepening row over pilots’ pay with the Irish Airline Pilots Association (IALPA) threatening industrial action if its demands aren’t met.

The Business Post understands that Aer Lingus is now at risk of losing out on a further four Airbus A321 XLR aircraft valued at $142 million each, having already missed out on two of the next-generation planes.

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