Equinix has launched an appeal with An Bord Pleanala (ABP) for a proposed Dublin data center.

The data center developer was refused planning permission by South Dublin County Council in August 2023, amid a defacto moratorium on new data centers in Dublin imposed by state-owned grid operator EirGrid due to transmission issues.

Previously proposed as an electric grid-powered data center, Equinix re-configured its proposal as a gas-powered facility, hoping to gain approval from state-owned energy company ESB which it said it had already received "verbally."

Despite the supposed verbal approval, the council ultimately ruled that Equinix had failed to secure an appropriate grid connection, or demonstrate that the proposed use of the enterprise-zoned land was "acceptable."

The data center in question would be located at Plot 100, Profile Park on Nagar Road.

Equinix has proposed to reconfigure and alter the data center project by removing the front-of-house offices at the third-floor level, alter the second floor to provide "consistency" between the front-of-house and data halls, increasing the parapet height of the front-of-house to 16.8m and provision storage on the second floor instead of internal generators (which will instead be located in the external generator yard).

The appeal is due to be decided by 15 January, 2024.