Apple in new Danish data HQasIrish plan stalls

APPLE has announced plans for a second Danish data centre as its flagship Irish scheme in Co Galway remains locked in legal and planning limbo.

The US technology giant said that it will spend DKK6bn (£700m) on a new data centre in Denmark, its second in the country to run entirely on renewable energy.

Apple said its latest Danish data centre would begin operations in the second quarter of 2019 in Aabenraa in southern Denmark, near the German border.

At that rate it could have two operational sites in Denmark before its long-planned Athenry project is up and running.

In February 2015 Apple unveiled plans for an €850m (£752m) data centre campus in Athenry — the same time as its original data centre in Denmark was announced.

The first centre in Denmark is at an advanced stage of construction and expected to be operational this year.

But the Athenry project, to be built on land provided by State-owned forestry business Coillte, is not yet under construction. The Irish project has been bogged down by planning appeals and court proceedings, leading the tech giant to express concerns over the delays to agencies in the Republic.

“We’re thrilled to be expanding our data centre operations in Denmark, and investing in new sources of clean power,” Erik Stannow, Nordic manager for Apple, told Reuters in an email.

“The planned facility in Aabenraa, like all of our data centres, will run on 100% renewable energy from day one thanks to new clean energy sources we’re adding,” he said.

Apple said access to wind power helped seal the investment. “The reliability of the Danish grid is one of the main reasons we will operate two sites in Denmark,” Mr Stannow said.