The Irish Times view on data centres and energy: Ireland needs to play the long game

Ireland is not alone in having a data centre problem. A number of countries, including the United States, have had to impose restrictions on their use because of the pressure they put on the electricity grid.
That pressure is set to intensify. It is estimated that artificial intelligence (AI) queries use 10 times more energy than existing search engines. As the use of AI grows, so will the energy used by data centres, with a big surge in planned construction in the US alone in the first half of this year.
This poses a significant problem for Ireland. Technology companies are looking at ways of solving the problem caused by data centres’ greater use of electricity. Google has commissioned up to seven modular nuclear reactors to power its planned data centres in North America. This follows the announcement in September that Microsoft is part-funding the reopening of Three Mile Island, a nuclear power plant based in Pennsylvania, to meet its growing energy needs.
If nuclear power becomes an effective and preferred solution to solving the energy crunch for data centres, it is not an option that will ever be available in Ireland. The Oireachtas would have to approve removing the ban on the use of nuclear energy in this country and it is unlikely there will be a political consensus for this proposition.
There has been a backlash against data centres in Ireland over recent years. This was inevitable as the parlous state of the State’s energy system meant that it was depicted as a choice between data centres or electricity for residential use.
Ireland does have an abundance of alternative energy sources, particularly wind. But getting the energy infrastructure up to the level needed to harness this requires significant planning and investment.
The Government has ample fiscal resources at its disposal to address this. The budget saw a split between some wasteful short-term measures and wiser planning for future investment. The latter must be the priority of the next administration. The period of plenty in the public finances must not be squandered.