2024 Data Centres Ireland Report

Data Centres contribute significantly to Ireland's GDP. The Irish data centre market amounted to over 3 Billion Euros of investment in 2023 with key opportunities to capitalize on future growth being driven by the AI revolution. However, its a competitive industry and while Ireland may have once been the EU pioneer of data centres, planning hurdles and electricity supply issues are forcing global technology companies to reconsider Ireland's role as a data centre hub.

In this episode, we report from the Data Centres Ireland Conference which took place at the RDS in Dublin in mid November. This was the 14th year of the event and it featured over 70 leaders and experts as well as 120 exhibitors showcasing the latest in data centre technology products, services and information.

The Data Centres Ireland Conference is the seminal meeting point for the industry each year and this year's topics included - the challenges facing the future of the data centre industry in Ireland, the role of renewables and energy storage, infrastructure technology trends and the impact of new EU sustainability regulations.

I am grateful to the following industry leaders and experts who graciously shared their insights with us.

• Garry Connolly, Founder, Host in Ireland
• Bobby Smith, Head of Energy Storage Ireland
• Dermot Costelloe, Associate Director, Fingleton White
• Mark Moloney, Sustainability Director, CyrusOne

Listen here or by searching for Perspectives with Neilo wherever you get your podcasts.

Perspectives with Neilo · 2024 Data Centres Ireland Report

Date of Recording: November 20th & 21st, 2024

Panel Discussion on The Evolving PR Image of Data Centres at the Data Centres Ireland Conference, RDS, Dublin, November 20 - 21, 2024.
Inset picture, exhibition floor. 

DIVE DEEPER:

Additional information on the topics discussed in this episode:

• Data Centres Ireland Conference

• Ireland struggles to consolidate role as data centre hub - Jude Webber and Malcolm Moore, Financial Times (October 7th, 2024)

• Data Centres in Ireland - Tammana Joon, Public Policy.ie (October 1st, 2024)

• Ireland should not be blocking data centres, we need more of them - David McWilliams, The Irish Times (August 31st, 2024)

• Facilitating Data Centre Demand in Ireland - Tom Davy, Eoin Cassidy, Micheal Grace, Mason Hayes & Curran (June 19th, 2024)

• Power grab: the hidden costs of Ireland's datacentre boom - Jessica Traynor, The Guardian (February 15th, 2024)

• Q&A: How sustainable is Ireland as a data centre hub? - Ellen O'Regan, The Irish Times (September 21st, 2023)

#Ireland, #datacenter, #datacenters, #AI, #renewables, #windpower, #solar, #netzero, #EUgreendeal, #energystorage, #energystorageireland, #datacentresireland, #EU, #EED, #CSRD, #IDA, #sustainability

Podcast

Offshore Wind Power - Learning from Taiwan

 Ireland's offshore wind industry marked a new milestone in May with the awarding of the first round of offshore wind projects. The Government has set a target to deliver 7GW of electricity from offshore wind by 2030 and has been busy putting the various different aspects of a framework in place (regulation, planning, legal, administration) to ensure successful delivery. However, Ireland is already lagging behind our European neighbors in what is fast becoming a highly competitive international industry.

The Pacific island nation of Taiwan has been deploying offshore wind generation since 2017. With a land mass about half the size of Ireland and a population of over 23 million, the lack of space on land together with abundant wind resources means most major developments are offshore. Many EU states like Denmark are actively partnering with Taiwan for investment opportunities and technical expertise.

During a recent visit to Taipei, I spoke with Angelica Oung (@AngelicaOung), Energy Reporter specializing in offshore wind, the grid and nuclear power about the history of wind power in Taiwan, how the government there has engaged with the industry and the lessons learned so far.

Date of Recoding: May 22nd, 2023.

Perspectives with Neilo · Offshore Wind Power - Learning From Taiwan

DIVE DEEPER

Additional information and references on the topics covered in this episode;

• unredacted.biz - Taiwan's Offshore Wind (Angelica's website)

• Wind power in Taiwan - wiki

• Wind power in Ireland - wiki 

• European countries pledge huge expansion of North sea wind farms - Jon Henley, The Guardian (April 24th, 2023)

• Minister Ryan welcomes hugely positive provisional results for first offshore wind auction - Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications (May 11th, 2023)

• Taiwan's wind industry braves cross-strait risks in clean energy boom - Sarah Wu, Reuters (May 11th, 2023)

• Winds of change needed if state is to meet offshore energy targets - Daniel Murray, Sunday Business Post (May 21st, 2023)

• ESB signs landmark wind power deal with Danish firm Orsted - Emmet Ryan, Sunday Business Post (June 2nd, 2023)

• Feasibility of Replacing Nuclear and Fossil Fuel Energy with Offshore Wind Energy: A Case for Taiwan - Cheng-Dar Yue et al, Dept of Landscape Architecture, National Chiayi University, Taiwan (March 24th, 2022)

Podcast