Data centres used 22 percent of Ireland’s electricity last year, up from 5 percent less than ten years ago.
Power-hungry computer servers are essential to Ireland’s tech industry. But the amount of electricity they use is putting a strain on the grid.
According to the latest figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) both industrial and residential users are consuming more electricity.
The CSO calculates its stats based on 2.2 million homes fitted with meters.
More electricity is now consumed by data centres than by homes in urban areas, which consume 18 percent of Ireland’s electricity.
Rural areas consume a further 10 percent.
Last week, a report by the European Commission warned that Ireland electricity grid is under increasing strain.
“The anticipated additional deployment of renewable energy, increasing electricity demand from continued electrification of heating and transport, and the growing number of data centres will put further strain on the electricity system.
This highlights the need to construct infrastructure to link increasing demand centres with the supply of renewables generation and to update existing network infrastructure to increase its capacity”, the EU advised.
The European Commission also wants Irish consumers to have better options to switch providers and to see more competition enter the energy market.
This would ensure “that private consumers have access to dynamic price markets, which can be an important means to provide flexibility in the energy system”, the European Commission said.
Ireland will need to find ways of generating more electricity to keep up with consumer and industrial demand.
Ireland is seen as having huge renewables potential, especially from wind power.
But the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) recently warned that “electricity demand [is] outpacing the increase in renewable generation”.