Data Centres Contributing to Ireland’s Energy Problem

A recent consultation published by the Commission for Regulation Utilities is another warning of the major impact data centres are having on the Irish electricity system.

Data centres and their impact on Ireland’s energy concerns

With concerns rising that the nation could face rolling blackouts, the CRU says it’s clear that measures have to incorporate to encourage data centres to address some of these risks. They note that the increasing drive to renewables is resulting in a less resilient and fault-tolerant grid and that these data centres consume vast amounts of electricity.

The CRU is essentially looking to drive legislation to make sure demand side services. where you can load shed when necessary and provide frequency response. While currently, the notion is that data centres are placing a huge load on the existing power supply at a time when Ireland is trying to decarbonise.

There are also data centres with advanced uninterruptible power supply technologies can that actually support grid services and be part of helping Ireland meet its target of 70% renewables by 2030. This extensive report like the commission for regulation of utilities, the legal context surrounding the issues, the demand for data centres as well as their definition, and a few potential solutions.

They note that the demand on the system is becoming greater, managing the transition to a more flexible system requires measures to maintain the security of supply while connecting the new load to the system efficiently. EirGrid highlighted the considerable challenge the electricity consumer faces over the coming years.

The worst outcome would be that the load sheds and ultimately results in rolling blackouts, measures need to be put in place to stop this. CRU worked with EirGrid to identify short, medium and long term solutions to ensure this steady supply.

The CRU notes that data centres, as the single largest homogenous demand driver, now need to be flexible and to demonstrate this by providing solutions to enable further grid integration while respecting the ultimate need to maintain the security of supply and the public interest. Their first solution is the control in a sense, to do nothing, in this scenario the Data Centre Connection Offer Policy and Process (DCCOPP) would continue as is.

This as mentioned will likely result in a situation where demands surpass available supply at the peak, resulting in load shedding and the public seeing rolling blackouts. The next solution they looked at is a moratorium on data centre connections.

This would mean the CRU could issue a direction to the system operators to cease processing all data centre connection applications and new connection applications for a number of years. The CRU does not consider it appropriate at this time as there are mechanisms that data centres can employ which the CRUs view can add to their overall flexibility.

Next would be connection measures, in this scenario, the CRU proposes to Direct EirGrid and ESBN as the system operators to implement the following measures with respect to the terms and conditions it may specify for all connection applications received from data centres, inside or out of Dublin. EirGrid and ESB networks shall prioritise the processing of data centre connection applications based on, the location of each data centre applicant with respect to whether they are within a constrained or unconstrained region of the electricity system.

The ability of each data centre applicant to bring onsite dispatchable generation equal to or greater than their demand, which meets appropriate availability and other technical requirements as may be specified by EirGrid, in order to support the security of supply. Also the ability of each data centre applicant to provide flexibility in their demand by reducing consumption when requested to do so by the TSO in times of system constraint, in order to support the security of supply.

EirGrid and ESBN will apply this prioritisation for data centre connection applications on an Ireland wide basis.

To learn more about this topic, and read the full report, check out this link.