World needs data centres but Ireland does not have time or energy for them
In a new article for the Business Post, MaREI’s energy expert Dr Paul Deane outlines why Ireland can ill afford data centres.
In a new article for the Business Post, MaREI’s energy expert Dr Paul Deane outlines why Ireland can ill afford data centres.
In this piece, Dr Deane outlines there is little doubt that the world needs data centres, but there is great uncertainty as to whether we can accommodate more in Ireland while meeting our climate law obligations. To navigate a pathway between minimizing environmental pollution and maximizing economic benefit, new data centres should be mandated to use clean power for every hour of the year.
Using clean power every hour means that a data centre would oversize its renewable energy portfolio and complement this with battery storage and support with electricity from decarbonized fuels such as biomethane for prolonged periods of low renewable generation.
It is an expensive solution and one that requires deep commitments to sustainability and deep pockets, but it provides one pathway that works within our legal obligation.
Ultimately, Ireland must be strategic in its energy choices and cut our economic cloth to our environmental measure. We must decide in the medium term if our renewable resources are best used to support existing firms and families move away from fossil fuel and what portions of these resources should be used to serve new additional electricity loads.