Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses. I have one quick question for Ms MacEvilly regarding the moratorium. The last time she was before the committee she said there was a moratorium on disconnections that would apply until around 11 March. Has the CRU considered extending that in light of the energy price crisis we face at present?

I also have a number of questions about data centres. The first relates to dispatchable on-site generation referenced in the CRU's consultation document, which states "The CRU expects that any dispatchable on-site generation that uses fossil fuel sources...[would] use natural gas". Why did the CRU not direct that to be the case? It has allowed it and left it up to the data centres to decide. Does the CRU believe that is contrary to our climate obligations and national climate policy?

My second question on data centres relates to the mitigation options. The CRU states:

Having considered the submissions received...the CRU remains of the view that it is not currently appropriate to impose a moratorium on data centres connections in light of the functions and obligations of the SOs to ensure all reasonable demands for electricity are met.

The CRU is saying that data centres need supply, and there should be a supply, so it would not put a full moratorium on them. Yet, everything else in the CRU document points to the fact that the energy requirements we have seen from data centres so far, and those being modelled into the future, are completely unreasonable when it comes to our overall energy supply and its security. The CRU specifies that the electricity system cannot currently accommodate the level of demand coming from data centres. It states:

It is clear...that data centres are having an impact on the Irish electricity system, and on...meeting...[the needs] of reasonable demands by the system, that is not comparable to any other industry...

On the one hand, the CRU is saying it believes the increase in demand from data centres is unreasonable, while, on the other, it is saying there should not be a moratorium because what data centres want is within the reasonable element of what the operators should be providing. Does the CRU see a contradiction in those two positions?