Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 22 November 2023
31. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications the number of islanded data centres that are already connected to the gas grid, those that contracted to connect, and those that are seeking contract to connect; and for each category to outline the amount of capacity involved, in tabular form. [51239/23]
View answerThe Government's Statement on the Role of Data Centres in Ireland’s Enterprise Strategy describes and an ‘Islanded’ data centre as a development that is not connected to the electricity grid and is powered mainly by on-site fossil fuel generation. Gas Networks Ireland (GNI) have advised my Department that they do not hold information on the electricity grid connection of existing customers. Therefore GNI has advised my Department that it is not in a position to provide data on the number, if any, of the small number of data centres connected to the gas grid that would meet the description of "islanded".
GNI has provided the following data in relation to data centres connected to the gas grid. There is an expectation that the majority of these gas connection requests are also connected to the electricity network and therefore would not meet the description of "islanded."
|
Category |
Number |
Aggregated Max Hourly Load (MW) |
|
Data Centres contracted to connect to the gas network |
11 |
2,100 |
|
Formal Enquiries received from Data Centre Sites (but not contracted) |
19 |
8,103.5 ** |
**Projected demand from these enquiries’ ranges from 40MW up to 1,300MW
