LAST UPDATE | 28 Sep 2021
THE GOVERNMENT’S HEAD-IN-THE-SAND approach to the proliferation of energy-guzzling data centres is threatening our energy security, inward investment, jobs and climate action targets. For what? We don’t know because the government has not carried out even a rudimentary cost-benefit analysis.
What is the government’s policy on data centres? A 17-page 2018 document, entitled Government Statement on the Role of Data Centres In Ireland’s Enterprise Strategy, is the closest thing to a policy platform. In this flimsy document, the benefits of data centres are expounded on at length – with seemingly every single tech job created since 2010 being attributed to the expansion of data centres.
The document states that data centres in Ireland “raise [the country’s] visibility as a technology-rich, innovative economy” and our “ability to attract the next wave of data centre investments will send a strong signal that Ireland remains an open, competitive, globally attractive and innovative economy”.
The hard sell
This cheery analysis is at complete variance to the increasingly dire warnings that have been emanating from national grid manager, Eirgrid, and the energy regulator, the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU), about the “unprecedented” growth in energy demands from data centres and the consequent danger of rolling blackouts.
The best-case scenario, previously, had forecast that data centres would comprise up to 33 percent of all our energy consumption by 2030. However, in June, Eirgrid warned that this could be a conservative estimate. It said it was dealing with so many connection requests from data centres that supplying them all would equate to 70 percent of national power use by 2030.
In a letter to the CRU, Eirgrid’s Group Head of Regulation, Bill Thompson, called for a national debate on the data centre “phenomenon”.
“Ireland’s electricity system was surely not planned to be, nor designed to be, a system which seeks to serve the needs of the global citizen for increased data supported by an ever proportionately smaller non-data centre commercial, industrial and domestic load,” he said.
Mr Thompson may have thought the requirement for a review of our permissive approach to data centres was an urgent imperative, but that sentiment was not shared by the government. Whenever I have raised concerns in the Dáil, about the increasingly ominous implications for our national grid and climate action targets from this surge in data centres, I am invariably told about all of the jobs created by Apple, Google and the other tech giants.
But, how attractive will Ireland look to these companies if the surge in demand leads to sustained, rolling blackouts?
This is not idle scaremongering. It has been reported that Ireland may lose out on an €80 billion investment by Intel because of concerns about the capacity of our energy infrastructure. Meanwhile, IDA Ireland has already warned that our energy supply crisis could “inflict serious reputational damage on the country”. After all, it’s hard to market the country as a prime location for thrusting captains of industry when you can’t even guarantee that you can keep the lights on.
In denial
The most alarming thing about all of this is the government’s refusal to accept that there is a problem. Its response, to the horrifying warnings that are now coming from industry and environmentalists alike, can be summarised as ‘it will be alright on the night’. Its 2018 policy document had, perhaps, the most risible proposal yet: technology, that has yet to be invented, will solve the problem.
“Given the pace of technological advances, it is also possible that innovative solutions will enable further energy efficiencies and network utilisation over the coming years,” it said.
Remember, it’s not that long ago since Brexiters were roundly mocked for suggesting technology, which didn’t yet exist, would solve the intractable problems posed by the Irish border. Alarmingly, the government’s energy policy is reminiscent of the most egregious Brexiter nonsense.
The government’s flippant attitude to this escalating crisis is bizarre and bewildering. We are now facing a perfect storm when it comes to our energy supply. Rocketing international prices for natural gas have seen wholesale prices jump by 250 percent already this year – meaning consumer bills will be up by as much as €500 this winter. Given Ireland is nowhere near meeting our target of generating 70 percent of our electricity from renewable sources by 2030, we are highly vulnerable to these price shocks.
With the energy requirements of the average data centre now equivalent to that of a small city like Kilkenny, we cannot keep connecting them to a national grid that is already creaking at the seams. At the very minimum, we need the government to conduct a cost-benefit analysis and research on the capacity of our energy infrastructure to cope.
A 2019 study from the Irish Academy of Engineers stated that an investment of €9 billion in our energy infrastructure would be required to sustain the proliferation of data centres. The response of government to that research was tumbleweeds. It has not produced its own figure.
The government response to our energy crisis has been characterised by a lack of strategic thinking, ambition and planning. Its head has been firmly rooted in the sand for long enough. This is why the Social Democrats are introducing a motion in the Dáil tomorrow calling for a moratorium on data centres.
We are not opposed to data centres, but we want a pause in their development until the government can tell us some pretty basic information – what are the implications of their continued growth; how can our energy infrastructure cope with the increased demand necessitated by data centres and how can we reach our climate action targets given the huge surge in energy demand?
This doesn’t seem like much to ask.
Jennifer Whitmore TD is a Social Democrats TD for Wicklow and party spokesperson on Climate Action and Biodiversity.
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