This is a complex question for which there is no clear answer.  What is known is that the increase in demand for energy from Data Centres puts a disproportionate and increasing burden on Ireland’s energy supply. While it is likely that some energy generated from offshore wind would be fed into the grid, current government policy includes plans to further increase the number of data centres the country will host, leading to a concomitant increase in energy demand.

Data centres are a high energy demanding industry, providing relatively little employment. A recent webinar hosted by Friends of the Earth, Ireland, provides very useful insight into the inadvisability of Ireland’s current Data Centre policy, and appeals for a re-think.  A case in point is the current situation in Arklow.

The current promoters of the proposed Arklow Bank development, SSE, are aiming to construct 197m high turbines about 6 km from Brittas Bay and the Wicklow coast, in close proximity to Wicklow reef, (the first example of a subtidal sabellaria alveolata reef in Britain and Ireland), Wicklow Head SPA (a protected area for IUCN red listed Kittiwakes) and adjacent to the Buckroney-Brittas Dunes and Fen SAC, which hosts unique priority habitats, protected under the Habitats Directive.

Although this proposed project is very much in the early stages of planning, SSE appear to have already entered into an agreement to supply the energy generated to an Echelon Data Centre, and apparently further such agreements are envisaged. That this agreement has been reached in advance of the Arklow proposal even making an application for planning permission, raises serious questions about the planned use of Ireland’s offshore renewable energy. In addition, and perhaps of even greater concern, is that it creates serious doubt about the objectivity and impartiality of the planning and environmental assessment processes being put in place to manage wind farm applications. Though we recognise the urgent need for renewable energy, this should not be achieved at the expense of our marine environment in order to provide energy for data centres.