Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent)
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One of the things that was happening during that period of time was the consultation that CRU had in relation to data centres. In that consultation, CRU was discussing whether there should be a continued expansion of data centres in the context of the electricity demands that come with that. Again, obviously one of the factors that would have been relevant in such a consultation was the fact that the public would be paying for those data centres and subsidising their energy use. This was not simply about taking the risk in terms of energy security but also about actively subsidising those data centres. This would seem to be something that was relevant at that time in CRU's 2021 consultation. Also in that consultation there was full awareness of the climate issues.

We raised an issue in previous sessions with CRU, and I also raised it in my own submission to the 2021 consultation, around diesel and gas backup generators used by data centres. The circular issued last year by the CRU, or perhaps the year before that, said that data centres did not choose to attach a fuel type, in terms of dispatchable generation. Why, in the context of the climate crisis, was the decision made just two years ago to tell data centres that they could have backup generators of diesel or gas, that if it was dispatchable it did not have to be renewable? I feel like we are coming with solutions a year or two after each problem. Now we are seeing something around gas connections but two years ago we had a decision to allow diesel or gas backup generators which, of course, come with serious climate implications. Can Ms MacEvilly explain that?