The data centre debate

So, why do so many information technology companies want to develop these centres here? We have heard the arguments of climatic suitability, or the Goldilocks effect – it’s neither too hot nor too cold, not too wet nor too dry (though the ‘not too wet’ might be arguable). While data centres are not huge employers of labour, they are valuable assets to the Irish economy. Data centres are clean industries, with minimal impact on the environment, though their demand for critical input resources could be a barrier to further developments unless the process is handled carefully and imaginatively. 

Adding value

An examination of current planning-permission applications shows that we are nowhere near peak data-centre establishment in Ireland. This is putting a strain on several resources, including energy and water. There is a case to be made, however, to facilitate as many data centres as are already built, in varying stages of planning, or as may yet be considered. We have the highest cost of electricity in the EU bar Germany, though that may change as we build storage infrastructure around an expanding renewable energy production sector. If we build all the wind turbines on land and sea that are being promoted, then we will end up with a lot of surplus energy to export across Europe. If our electricity costs remain high, then who will want to buy it? On the other hand, if it becomes cheaper to produce than alternative energy sources at home or abroad, should we examine means of adding value to it before exporting any surplus?
One alternative is to add value to that electricity through powering data centres before exporting it in the form of data streams for the worldwide web and the emerging artificial intelligence (AI) revolution, much as we add value to our dairy produce before exporting across the planet. In simple terms, we could use a proportion of our expected renewable energy production to create data and then export that valuable data across the world. The potential is almost limitless as AI gains pace in the years ahead. 

Energy

Data centres require huge amounts of energy. If we use wind-generated energy to power these data centres, allowing them to proliferate would no longer be a strain on our energy resources. In turn such a strategy would allow Ireland to become an essential base for information storage, further securing our foreign-direct-investment information-technology companies as a critically important part of our economy and tax revenues for the future. Perhaps the proposition is an imperfect solution to our outsized data centre population, but it could be a viable and potentially profitable solution, nonetheless.