Data centres use more power than all rural homes in Ireland
Drain on national grid soars by third
ELECTRICITY usage by data centres soared by a third last year – exceeding the power used by all the rural homes in Ireland, figures revealed yesterday.
Figures from the Central Statistics Office also revealed the drain on the national grid from data centres has almost tripled since 2015 to 14%.
This put it ahead of the 12% of electricity consumed by rural dwellings across Ireland.
It is understood there are 70 data centres currently in operating across the country, with plans for more to be built.
The new data is likely to fire up public anger at a time when households are struggling to meet rocketing energy bills.
The CSO’S Niamh Shanahan confirmed: “The increase in consumption was driven by a combination of existing data centres using more electricity and new data centres being added to the grid.”
Last year, Eirgrid predicted that data facilities could account for 27% of all electricity used and announced a ban on the addition of further data centres to the grid in Dublin because of the overload they are causing.
Social Democrats TD Jennifer Whitmore said the situation was further proof of the Government’s attempt to put “responsibility to reduce emissions on the individual, while the State continues to facilitate and incentivise energy-guzzling industries”.
The party’s energy spokeswoman added: “The country has been convulsed in recent weeks by attempts to ban turf sales by the Government. Meanwhile, the CSO informs us today that data centres are consuming more electricity in Ireland than every single rural dwelling combined.
“In the Dail last year, the Social Democrats attempted to secure a moratorium on the construction of new data centres – the Government voted against this motion.
“Subsequently, a de facto moratorium in Dublin was put in place by Eirgrid because of the precarious nature of our energy supply.
“How can the Government claim to be serious about efforts to reduce our emissions and achieve climate action goals when it has adopted a strictly hands-off approach to data centres?”
Ms Whitmore added that the Government had not updated its policy on data centres since 2018, despite Enterprise Minister Leo Varadkar promising to prepare a document last September.