Vantage Data Centers is appealing the decision to refuse a data center application in Dublin, Ireland.
The application, first filed April 4, requested permission to demolish a two-story residential building and outbuildings located on 3.79 hectares on the south side of New Nangor Road, Dublin, in Profile Park.
In its place, Vantage Data Centers wanted to build one two-story data center with a plant at roof level with a floorspace of 12,893 sqm (138,780 sq ft) as well as 13 emergency backup generators. The application also noted plans to house photovoltaic panels at the roof level.
The application was ultimately rejected on May 29, leading to Vantage lodging an appeal at the end of last month, with a decision due by October 2023.
The grounds for rejection were two-fold: energy use, and environmental impact.
The council determined that the application did not include an “adequate assessment of the potential impacts of the proposed development on the receiving environment,” and also pointed to the “lack of a fixed connection agreement to connect to the grid, the lack of significant onsite renewable energy to power the proposed development, the lack of evidence provided in relation to the applicant's engagement with Power Purchase Agreements in Ireland” as a significant obstacle to the development.
In 2021 Vantage filed and was granted permission to develop two data center buildings - known as Building 11 and Building 12 - within land in Profile Park. This most recent filing is for Building 13.
The area proposed for the development is already home to several data centers, with CyrusOne, Google, and Digital Reality among the immediate neighbors in Profile Park. Recent figures published by the Central Statistics Office showed that data center power consumption in Dublin accounted for 18 percent of all electricity used in the region in 2022.
Ireland has had a defacto moratorium on data center developments in the greater Dublin area with power operator EirGrid saying it would not accept any applications until 2028, which has since ended with the Irish government stating that it would not limit or reduce the number of data centers in the country.
