Thursday, 26 Jan 2023
Updated / Thursday, 26 Jan 2023 14:57
Amazon has lodged plans for three new data centres to the north of
Mulhuddart in north Dublin
Online retail giant, Amazon has lodged plans for three new data centres
for its data centre campus to the north of Mulhuddart in north Dublin.
On behalf of Amazon, Universal Developers has lodged plans with Fingal
County Council for the three new data centre buildings with a combined
power load of 73MW for the Amazon Web Services (AWS) data centre campus
on a 65 acre land-holding at Cruiserath Road, Dublin 15.
Planning consultants for the scheme, John Spain and Associates state
that one data centre is already operational at the campus while
construction work continues on two others.
An Environmental Impact Statement lodged with the scheme stated that
permitted development and future indicative development at the data
campus will consume 219.7MW in power and produce 607,523 tonnes of CO2
per year.
In planning documents lodged, Mr Spain states that Amazon Web Services
(AWS) has already directly invested €4.4 billion in Ireland between
2011 and 2020 and supports 8,700 jobs here.
Mr Spain states that the new data centres represent "a significant
investment that will create additional, direct and indirect and induced
economic and employment benefits".
At peak, 400 construction workers will be involved in building the data
centres and will employ 50 when operational.
The planning documents state that the target date for commencing work
on the first data centre is the second quarter of this year with AWS
assuming to commence construction on the second data centre in the
second quarter of next year.
The EIS states that Amazon’s three wind farm projects in Galway, Cork
and Donegal are projected to deliver 229MW of renewable energy capacity
each year and reduce carbon emissions by 366,000 tonnes of CO2.
The three projects make Amazon the largest single corporate buyer of
renewable energy in the country.
The planning document states that "the operator has committed to
off-take 100% of the power from these renewable energy projects.
Therefore, renewable energy sources will be used to provide electricity
to the site thereby reducing the indirect pollutant emissions from
electricity generation."
Mr Spain said that Amazon’s data centres here "enable some of Ireland’s
best known businesses to reduce costs, innovate faster, and scale and
grow their operation".
He said that the proposed data centres has a grid connection agreement
from 2017 with Eirgrid for the site that allows for an increase of
power to the site for each of the years 2022 to 2029.
Mr Spain states that the regulator, the Commission for Energy
Regulation’s (CRU's) November 2021 direction to data centre operators
concerning grid connections does not impact on the planned data
centres.
Third parties have until January 30th to make submissions and the sole
objector to date, Mannix Coyne from Bracetown, Clonee, Co Meath has
stated that the 602,532 tonnes of CO2 emissions from the data campus
alone "would represent 1 per cent of Ireland’s total greenhouse gas
emissions, a staggering figure for a single development".
The Co Meath resident contends a grant of permission and consequent
production of significant CO2 emissions "contravenes my unremunerated
constitutional rights to a healthy environment, the right to life and
the right to bodily integrity".
A decision is due on the application next month.
Reporting by Gordon Deegan