AI-fuelled cloud storage boom threatens Irish climate targets, report warns

Friends of the Earth calls on government to rein in growth of datacentres for fear they could increase fossil fuel use

Ireland has allowed itself to become a “data dumping ground” for big technology companies such as Amazon and Meta which are monopolising clean energy generation for their datacentres, campaigners claim.

They say the growth of the cloud storage sector in Ireland is so rapid it is threatening the country’s legally binding decarbonisation commitments.

Independent expert research commissioned by Friends of the Earth found that between 2017 and 2023, datacentres absorbed the same amount of energy as that generated by wind power over the period.

“Datacentres are growing far faster than the renewable energy procured to meet their needs,” said the report’s author, Hannah Daly, professor of sustainable energy and energy systems modelling at University College Cork.

She found that electricity demand from datacentres had grown by 22.6% since 2015, compared with 0.4% for other industrial sectors.

By 2030 the demand for energy from datacentres to serve the increasing needs of the internet and artificial intelligence would “exceed that of Ireland’s entire industrial sector under high-demand scenarios”, the report said.

Government data published by the Central Statistics Office in July found the total energy use by datacentres rose from 5% in 2015 to 21% of national consumption in 2023.

Friends of the Earth is now calling on the Irish government to reconsider its policy on expansion of datacentres.

“This expert research completely blows out of the water the PR spin that datacentres expansion is in any way sensible or sustainable on both climate and energy security grounds,” said Jerry Mac Evilly, head of policy change at the charity. “They are adding more fuel to the fire and increasing reliance on fossil gas and the gas network.”

He added that the investment in renewable energy such as wind and solar power by the state was “planned to get our communities off polluting expensive fossil fuels, not to myopically serve the unlimited expansion of one colossal industry”.

Daly’s report also found that “dozens of datacentres” were seeking connections to the natural gas network, which relies heavily on supplies from the UK and Norway, “to overcome local power network constraints”.

“This is prolonging Ireland’s dependency on fossil fuels and will make legally binding carbon budgets unachievable,” Daly said. “This underscores the need for policy interventions that ensure renewables displace fossil fuels rather than fuelling new demand.”

The expansion of datacentres in Ireland will come increasingly under the spotlight with the new EU AI Act, which requires countries to publish figures on energy use for general purpose AI.

The EU is also finalising rules to monitor the energy performance of datacentres, including their energy and water footprint.

In August, South Dublin county council refused planning permission to Google Ireland for a new datacentre in a business park. It cited “the existing insufficient capacity in the electricity network (grid) and the lack of significant on-site renewable energy to power the datacentre” as reasons for its decision.

On Sunday, the former chief executive of Ireland’s electricity grid, Eirgrid, said the commentary on datacentres was “inaccurate, misinformed and damaging to the national interest”. He told the Business Post the level of demand was “healthy” for a growing economy and would help finance offshore windfarms.

The projected 30% increase in demand for power should not be a concern, he said, if the government achieved the 50% growth in energy generation by 2030 Eirgrid had recommended.

Cover photo: Datacentres in Ireland are using the same amount of energy as the country is creating in windpower, experts say. Photograph: Erik Isakson/Getty Images