Big tech to be allowed use fossil fuels to power data centres
Under Ireland’s Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Law, the CRU and System Operators are required to act in a manner consistent with the national climate objective. However, following a legal review, the CRU noted that the current provisions under the Law do not provide a mandate for the CRU to deliver a connections policy that requires explicit emissions reduction and offsetting measures.
In the absence of such a legal basis, the CRU proposes to take limited actions in respect of emissions, such as reporting on renewable energy use and emissions by data centres.
MaREI’s Dr Paul Deane, Senior Lecturer in Clean Energy at University College Cork spoke to Claire Byrne on RTE today about the draft decision and the open question it raises about who is responsible for delivering climate law in Ireland’s power sector.
