Data centre developer warns cost of power is disincentive

DIGITAL REALTY Trust (DLR), the US developer of data centres which has invested more than €100 million in Ireland since the end of 2006, says its future investment plans here are dependent on the availability of power.

"Ireland has got a lot of things going for it but that isn't one of them," said Chris Crosby, senior vice-president with DLR. He points out that the use of nuclear generation means power in Paris costs less than 4c per kilowatt while in the Republic it is approximately 12c.

DLR builds and acquires data centres and then leases them out to clients. The New York Stock Exchange-quoted company has $750 million slated for investment globally in the coming years.

Earlier this year Eircom signed a long-term lease on a 11,500sq m data centre in Clonshaugh, Co Dublin, which DLR developed from scratch. The US firm also has another 5,500 sq m facility in Clonshaugh and an 11,000 sq m centre in Blanchardstown which was previously owned by ServeCentric and developed by WorldPort.

"Dublin is one of 10 markets in Europe and the US where we have found it attractive to invest in speculative new supply," said Mr Crosby. "If there wasn't the difficulties with power there would be a lot more possibilities for us here."

An ESB spokesman responded that "no one has ever been found wanting in terms of when and where they need power." He said the ESB was aware there was a huge demand in greater Dublin, in part driven by data centre development, and the ESB is already working to reinforce its network to meet projected demand.

Data centres are notorious power hogs, primarily due to the massive amount of cooling needed to keep dense racks of servers at an optimal operating temperature. In common with other data centre owners and IT vendors DLR is a member of the Green Grid which is trying to establish best practice for data centre efficiency. DLR also applies green principles to the construction of its facilities.

"It's a business decision - we are incentivised by our return on investment model to be more efficient," said Mr Crosby. "It also makes us more attractive to clients who want to lease our centres."

The benign Irish climate - neither too hot or too cold - makes Ireland an attractive location.

Mr Crosby says future investments will be located in Dublin, primarily because of the superior telecoms infrastructure compared with the rest of the country. "We would look at another location in Ireland with a client but not speculatively," he says. DLR's customers fall into four main categories: systems integrators such as IBM and Eircom, large internet companies, multinationals and financial services companies.