COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

South Dublin County Council Crest

MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

Monday, November 08, 2021

QUESTION NO.18

QUESTION: Councillor F. Timmons

To ask the Chief Executive for a detailed report into Data centres in SDCC?

REPLY:

In the last 20 years Ireland has established itself as The Data Capital of Europe with a large cluster of leading data rich companies serving Europe from Ireland. These include Apple, Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Amazon, LinkedIn, Twitter, Airbnb, with many investing in substantial data centre infrastructure around the country.

According to the IDA, there are a range of factors which attract data centres to Ireland, including availability of land at a reasonable cost, strong experience and project management expertise in building data centres and other large industrial projects and competitive construction costs. Other factors which make Ireland attractive for these companies has included low corporate tax and specific incentives such as accelerated capital allowances for energy efficient equipment. Ireland’s stable political environment and cool climate are also contributing factors which attracts data centres.

The Government supports data centres on a national level and provides policies and objectives which encourage public support for data driven business. Inward investment from the data centre industry since 2009 is now expected to top €10 billion by 2020 with annual investment amounting to €1.3 billion.

South Dublin County Council hosts a significant number of data centres within the Dublin Metropolitan Area.  As of November 2020, 61 out of the 66 data centres nationwide were in the Greater Dublin area, with almost 50% of those within South Dublin.

The majority of SDCC’s data centres are located in clusters on ‘EE’ (Employment and Enterprise) zoned lands in Grangecastle and Citywest, with two located on ‘REGEN’ (Regeneration) zoned lands in the Tallaght / Greenhills area. Data centres in the County have an average floor area of 20,000 sq. m and an average site area of approximately 11 hectares. Of the data centres reviewed for a study carried out by the Planning Department in 2019, there appears to be circa 100 people employed ongoing, during the operational stage, per 20,000 sq. m. While levels of employment are significantly lower than other uses such as office, R&D hubs etc, data centres generate a significantly higher level of revenue in terms of rates.

As of May 2021, there were 34 operational data centres in South Dublin or immediately adjacent. Twenty-three of these were within Grange Castle/Profile Park/Dublin 22 with a further eleven operational within CityWest/Parkwest/Dublin 24.  A breakdown is provided below.

Table 1.0 Data Centres in South Dublin and immediate surrounds

Location

Operational

Under Construction

Planning Approved

Planning Application

Grange Castle/Profile Park/Dublin 22

23

2

8

4

CityWest/Parkwest/Dublin 24

11

1

4

-

Total

34

3

12

4

Source: Bitpower Energy Solutions Biannual Report May 2021

There is potential for data centres to contribute to renewable energy through redistribution of waste heat. This is being realised in the Tallaght District Heating Project which will use data centre waste heat to power homes and businesses in the area.

It is recognised that data centres create significant demand for energy in the form of electricity in particular. Eirgrid has identified a need to reinforce the electricity network in west Dublin in response to the local increase in the demand for electricity.  A new electricity substation and associated connections are to be completed for the area to meet current demand and to create the potential for future growth.

The Draft County Development Plan 2022-2028 has taken account, through strong policy, of the conflicting nature of data centres, recognising government policy and the need for modern society to be able to store and transmit data whilst also cognisant of the energy demands data centres create. The policy, which has been formulated in liaison with Codema, requires operators/developers to demonstrate a number of key criteria before planning permission can be considered, including: strong energy efficiency measures, onsite renewable energy generation or evidence of engagement with power purchase agreements in Ireland, measures to support the just transition to a circular economy, measures to facilitate district heating or heat networks and evidence of sign up to the Climate Neutral Data Centre Pact.