Offaly firm signs South Korea data centre deal

Lumcloon Energy, a project development company based in Tullamore, Co Offaly, has signed a deal with one of South Korea’s biggest construction engineering companies to build Europe’s first ever data centre to run on fuel cell.

The memorandum of understanding with SK Ecoplant, a subsidiary of the SK Group, the second largest conglomerate in South Korea after Samsung, was signed in Seoul on Monday during a high-level Irish trade mission.

“Together they’re going to build Europe’s first fuel cell powered data centre in Ireland, which I think is strategically very important because, of course, the energy that data centres use and the pressure that puts on the grid and the carbon footprint of data centres has been a source of a lot of political debate in the last number of years,” Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Simon Coveney said.

“If we can build data centres that are powered by fuel cell technology, initially gas, but in the future hydrogen, then that really does change the dynamic in that area, which I think is very exciting. And they’re very anxious to make this work and to show that Europe’s first fuel cell power data centre can effectively become a template for many other data centres in the future. So it’s a good example, I think, of a small- to medium-sized Irish company doing something very dynamic with a Korean giant that wants to actually use Ireland as not just a test bed, but actually a proof of concept for a new technology.

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Taoiseach Leo Varadkar will meet South Korea’s president Yoon Suk-yeol on Friday at the end of the three-day trade mission which also included Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue and Minister for Higher Education Simon Harris. Mr Coveney said advice from Enterprise Ireland and the IDA were a big factor in the decision to choose South Korea as the destination for the first trade mission of its kind.

“We believe that this is a country that’s producing global giants effectively, like Hyundai and Kia and LG and Samsung, companies that are expanding and looking to diversify now in terms of their footprint outside of South Korea as well as within it. And they’re looking at Europe. And the reason why we came here is that we want them to think about Ireland when they look to Europe. And I hope that some of the meetings we’ve had this week can reinforce that,” he said.