Sir, – Muireann Lynch of the ESRI implies in her article that data centres are nothing to get too fussed about (“Don’t be distracted by data centres. Here’s the real reason we’re missing our climate targets”, Opinion & Analysis, June 24th). This view aligns with the recent surprising placatory comments on data centres by Minister for the Environment and Climate Eamon Ryan (News, June 13th), and with Government policy, which proposes no cap on data centres. Such views are, however, at variance with the facts.
Irish data centres result in emissions of around 1.8 million tonnes of CO2 from power plants. This is 60 per cent of our entire carbon budget for the electricity sector in 2030. So, can we simply decarbonise it? Easier said than done. Offshore wind energy may not contribute significantly until well into the 2030s.
To meet our 2030 targets we must rely on a full roll-out of our identified onshore wind capacity. New onshore wind projects face an extraordinary degree of opposition. With significant further growth in data centre demand, we would have no credible hope of achieving our carbon budget or our 80 per cent renewable electricity target.
Muireann Lynch states, “Whether or not a portion of our demand comes from data centres is completely irrelevant”. This overlooks the important consideration of overall national emissions. Electrification of heating and transport will increase electricity demand. However, it will reduce overall national emissions, as these technologies are three to four times more energy efficient than the fossil-fuel systems they replace. In contrast, increased demand from data centres will only result in increased national emissions.
It may come as a surprise to readers that there is no national body charged with allocation of the national carbon budget. It is a free-for-all, first come first served. Ireland is truly the wild west of EU data storage, reportedly hosting 25 per cent of the entire EU capacity. Once a data centre is approved by planning authorities, connection to the grid is determined by engineering aspects such as the availability of generating and distribution capacity, with no consideration of greenhouse gas emissions.
Perversely, data centres with on-site fossil-fuelled electricity generation will also be favoured.
We need to decide between reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and economic growth, because the two are difficult to reconcile. The Government has already made this policy decision. They have opted for economic growth. This will lead to increased national emissions, and a growing energy demand which will prove impossible to decarbonise. – Yours, etc,
COLIN DOYLE,
Ennis,
Co Clare.