An Taisce, an Irish environmental preservation group, has expressed concern that Google’s plans to enlarge its Grange Castle Business Park data centre in Dublin might put critical pressure on Ireland’s carbon budget. The third section of the tech behemoth’s data centre campus, which will cover a 50-acre site and generate jobs for 50 people once finished, will put an additional burden on renewable resources to respond to substantial additional power demand, according to An Taisce planning officer, Sean O’Callaghan.
O’Callaghan further pointed out in an eight-page report that the uncontrolled spread of data infrastructure in Ireland has contributed to 21% of all metered electricity used by the country. He suggested Google’s new data centre would potentially strain the electricity grid in Dublin, making it more difficult to cope in a region already besieged by several pre-existing and prospective data centres.
The project’s projected 0.44 per cent increase in national emissions is deemed incompatible with our commitments to scale down emissions, stated O’Callaghan.
Not only An Taisce, but the policy director at Friends of the Earth, Jerry MacEvilly, also raised objections, urging the South Dublin County Council to reject Google’s data centre expansion proposal.
Furthermore, Extinction Rebellion Ireland, an environmental advocacy organisation, cautioned that community and national dissent and retaliatory measures might erupt if the data centre proposal were to get the go-ahead. Emer Connolly, a representative of the organisation, warned that the potential expansion invites disastrous consequences for local communities, exacerbating water shortages and complicating the attainment of a more sustainable economy and climate targets. She stated that environmental groups are keeping a close eye on developments and won’t easily allow the expansion to proceed.