A new report reveals that the rapid expansion of data centres in Ireland is driving up electricity demand and increasing reliance on fossil fuels, jeopardizing the country's commitment to decarbonization.
At a time of climate crisis , the new Government has a choice to make between carbon budgets and economic growth at all costs. Ceara Carney from Dublin depicting Ériu, mythological goddess of Ireland, with other members of Extinction Rebellion Ireland at the RDS urging that no more data centres be developed, outside the Data Centres Ireland Exhibition and Conference, in late 2023.
Photograph: Colin Keegan/Collins DubllinThe treatment of data centres within the programme for government will be a litmus test for the next government’s commitment to decarbonisation. The report, Data Centres in the Context of Ireland’s Carbon Budgets, shows evidence that challenges the prevalent narrative that data centre expansion is compatible with the country’s legally binding climate commitments. The data shows that since 2015, virtually all of Ireland’s electricity demand growth has been driven by the rapid expansion of data centres. Rather than facilitating a green transition, data centres are causing greater fossil fuel use. I estimated that between 2020 and 2023, corporate power purchase agreements for new wind energy covered only 16 per cent of the growth in electricity demand from data centres. Since 2017, every additional kilowatt hour of wind energy generated has been matched by the growth in data centre demand. This means that renewables have been serving demand growth, not displacing fossil fuels. Even more alarming is the growing reliance on natural gas. To overcome local power constraints, data centres are increasingly seeking connections to the gas network. Gas Networks Ireland (GNI) projects that data centres with current connection agreements will consume three terawatt hours (TWh) of natural gas by 2031, resulting in 2.6 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions over the period between now and 2030, our first two carbon budget
Climate Crisis Data Centres Carbon Budgets Decarbonization Renewable Energy
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