Data centres are going to be required to make public their carbon emissions and use of renewables, under a new draft policy from the regulator responsible for the energy sector.
The proposal is part of a decision published by the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) in an effort to provide “clarity” for the sector.
It has also detailed new policies for connecting data centres to the national grid.
Energy demand from the centres has risen from 5% of Ireland’s electricity in 2015, to 21% in 2023 and is forecast to reach 30% in 2032.
New centres are currently mandated to provide generation or storage to match the amount of energy they use.
In a change to the existing policy, the generation or storage can be near the new centre and not just onsite.
But new data centres will also be required to supply power to the national grid at times.
Under the new policy, Eirgrid and ESB Networks must consider the location of any data centres and take into account if they are in a “constrained” region.
It said growth in the facilities has been heavily concentrated around the Dublin area which had “contributed to creating localised pressure on the electricity network”.
Eirgrid and ESB Networks will also be required to assess the appetite of data centres for further growth.
This will include asking the facilities if they can hand back any existing unused electricity capacity.
The CRU said it supports the “Government’s proposal for the development of a comprehensive plan guiding the development of data centre infrastructure in alignment with decarbonisation objectives and growing Ireland’s knowledge based economy”.
‘Balancing system security’
CRU Commissioner Dr Tanya Harrington said that their proposal requiring data centres to build plants to store electricity on site, will try to balance the security of the system, try to meet emissions targets, and ensure that there is a continued investment in enabling infrastructure for a “knowledge rich economy”.
The proposal seeks to lessen the pressure on the national grid by requiring data centres to build their own plants to generate and store electricity either on site or nearby.
While they will be required to make public their carbon emissions, there is no requirement for the plants to run on renewables.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Dr Harrington said that it is important to ensure the security of supply of the system and the stability of the network, while trying to attain emissions targets.
“Storage is just one of many technologies that the developers can choose to array on their sites, the difference with this decision is that we’re allowing them to do it both on their geographic bounded site and or approximate to the data centre,” she said.
“Energy storage comes in in different formats, but it allows in some instances modular scaling to ramp up with the demand of the data centre, and I think that’s a very positive new feature.”
Dr Harrington explained that the “draft decision” policy is working towards the Government’s twin objectives of decarbonisation and digitalisation, and that it is a matter for the data centres to decide how they fuel and power themselves.
Social Democrats TD Jennifer Whitmore has said the CRU’s decision to give a green light to more data centres is “in complete conflict” with Ireland’s climate legislation.
She said the CRU appeared to be operating “in complete isolation from government policy” and the minister needed to make a statement on the matter.
The Wicklow TD said the EPA predicted Ireland was on course to miss its 2030 emissions reduction targets, and this could cost the State up to €20 billion.
She asked: “How can the CRU roll out red carpet for fossil using data centres?”
Deputy Whitmore warned that Ireland is facing both a climate emission crisis and grid problem when, as projected, data centres soon account for 30% of our energy usage.
Article Source – Data centres to be required to make their carbon emissions public – RTE