Amazon has received the go ahead to build two new data centres in north Dublin despite objections from environmental groups.
The groups are concerned that the new centres would put even more pressure on energy supplies and will have a negative impact on the environment. Environmental groups Gluaiseacht and Not Here Not Anywhere have objected to the proposal.
It's estimated that between 15 and 58 staff will work at the site while up to 400 will be employed during construction. The two centres are being developed on a 3.75 hectare site in Clonshaugh Business and Technology Park in North Dublin.
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Amazon has been granted permission to demolish the Ricoh building in order to create its new buildings. The data centres will be two-storeys with a gross floor area of 12,875 sq m and 1,445 sq m. The larger building will have solar panels on the roof.
The proposal features includes a sprinkler tank, pumphouse, security building, MV building and the provision of two additional MV substation rooms.
In October 2021, South Dublin County councillors agreed to write a letter to government begging them to ban data centres over blackout concerns and sustainability.
In the last 20 years Ireland has established itself as The Data Capital of Europe with a large cluster of leading data rich companies serving the continent from Ireland. These include Apple, Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Amazon, LinkedIn, Twitter, Airbnb, with many investing in substantial data centre infrastructure around the country.
According to the IDA, there are a range of factors which attract data centres to Ireland, including availability of land at a reasonable cost, strong experience and project management expertise in building data centres and other large industrial projects and competitive construction costs. As of November 2020, 61 out of the 66 data centres nationwide were in the Greater Dublin area, with almost 50 percent of those within South Dublin.
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