Extinction Rebellion Ireland (ERI) has warned that if a planned new Google Ireland data centre gets the planning go-ahead for south Dublin “it will be met with massive local and national pushback and action”.
In an objection against the planned new data centre expansion by Google Ireland for Grange Castle Business Park in south Dublin, Emer Connolly of Extinction Rebellion Ireland has told the Council: “This expansion is a disaster for local communities, water shortages, transition to a more sustainable economy, and reaching our climate targets.
Ms Connolly states that “if this planning goes through, it will be met with massive local and national pushback and action”.
She said: “Environmental groups are watching closely and won’t let this go through easily.”
In a separate submission, An Taisce has warned that planning for the data centre "would further compromise our ability to achieve compliance with our carbon budget limits and would put additional pressure on renewables capacity to deal with the significant additional power demand”.
The scheme is the third phase of the Google Ireland data centre campus at Grange Castle Business Park and will involve the creation of 800 construction jobs and 50 jobs when operational.
The new 72,400 square-metre data storage facility data centre will involve the construction of eight data halls on a 50 acre greenfield/brownfield site.
However, in the eight-page submission, An Taisce’s Planning Officer, Sean O'Callaghan states that the proliferation of data infrastructure has largely gone unchecked, and data centres now consume 21 per cent of Ireland’s total metred electricity.
He said that this is up from 5% in 2015 and represents more electricity use than all urban households in Ireland combined.
Mr O'Callaghan has stated that the planned data centre will put great pressure on an already strained electricity grid in the Dublin region, particularly in light of the large number of existing and proposed data centres already in the area.
Mr O'Callaghan stated that a projected increase of 0.44 per cent in national emissions from the project "is entirely incompatible with our obligations to reduce emissions”.
Mr O'Callaghan states: "Also, we consider an increase in national emissions of almost half a percentage point as a result of one singular development to be very significant.”
He said that granting development consent for the data centre, on its own terms and when considered cumulatively with the high concentration of other data centres, “would greatly risk Ireland’s ability to meet carbon budget and sectoral emissions ceiling obligations for the electricity sector”.
Head of Policy at Friends of the Earth, Jerry MacEvilly has called on the Council to reject the planning application.
Mr Mac Evilly states “our concern is that the proposed development would actively undermine the achievement of the state’s carbon budget programme”.
Dr Colin Doyle has told the council that claims of commitment by Google and Google Ireland Ltd “to decarbonisation amount to greenwashing”.
He said: “The claims are all based on purchase of renewable electricity. While these purchases can be reported in corporate Green House Gas (GHG) accounting systems, they do not mitigate or offset in any way the physical additional GHG emissions caused by Google's activities in Ireland.”
In a separate submission, Gino Kenny TD (People Before Profit Solidarity) along with party colleagues, Cllr Madeleine Johansson and Cllr Darragh Adelaide have told the council that the development “would have an adverse impact on the local community, the electricity grid and on Ireland’s carbon emissions”.
Raising concerns about possible black-outs in the area from data centre development, the three state that “Grange Castle has seen a significant number of data storage developments, some of which have not yet started operating, and we would be extremely concerned about the capacity of the electricity grid at this time to cope with any further developments”.
A decision is due on the application later this month.
