Energy minister says data centres are to Ireland what car factories are to Germany

ENERGY MINISTER DARRAGH O’Brien has defended the large number of data centres in Ireland, telling The Journal that data centres are vital to Ireland’s industrial base. 

The minister said Ireland’s IT sector is one of its largest industries, and data centres are a vital component of that.

“We don’t make cars, we don’t manufacture [cars], we don’t have heavy industry in Ireland as such. So if you’re in Germany or if you’re in Spain and you’re making cars and you’re making trains, those type of things are heavy energy users. IT is our large industrial,” said O’Brien.

He said data centres employ around 20,000 people, stating they are “really, really important”.

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“I don’t want to pull the shutters down on it,” he added. 

It was recently reported by The Irish Times that the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) has proposed an arrangement that would let data centres pay a reduced price on the condition that they accept their supply may be cut intermittently when demand is high.

The interruptions would be the result of increased pressure on the country’s gas supply.

The CRU said that data centres will continue to pay market rates for gas, but that under the proposal they would get a discount when paying network tariffs as long as they agree to accept interrupted supply. 

Speaking to The Journal about the issue, the energy minister said it is a matter for the CRU to determine, adding that from his understanding it is a “trade-off” as in some instances a data centre may have to be switched off. 

“That’s part of the deal,” he said.

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“The reality of it is, if we want to be at the cutting edge of technologies and continue to be one of the world leaders in ICT technologies underpinning tens of thousands of jobs, data centres are an important part of that infrastructure.”

The amount of energy and water consumed by data centres, and how much strain they are putting on Ireland’s infrastructure, has become the topic of heated political debate as the facilities continue to proliferate. 

The minister said the government has brought in new policies relating to energy usage for new data centres that get a connection agreement whereby 80% of their energy has to be through new renewable sources.

Speaking in the US earlier this year, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said the Irish government is prioritising the growth of data centres in Ireland.