Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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73. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment his plans to ensure that confirmed data centre connections will not increase emissions; and his plans to ensure that confirmed data centre connections do not lock in higher gas demand. [62758/22]

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour)
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What are the Minister's plans to ensure confirmed data centres connections will not increase emissions? What are his plans to ensure that such connections do not lock in higher gas demands?

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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The Government's decision on sectoral emissions ceilings means we must reduce electricity emissions to approximately 3 million tonnes per annum by 2030 for the electricity sector, which is the steepest decline of all sectors in the economy. The targets are particularly challenging because of increasing electricity demand, including demand from data centres, and the electrification of heat and transport. Our principal tools to ensure our emissions are on track is to use renewable electricity to power our grid and to ensure demand growth is sustainable, flexible and consistent with the legally binding ceiling. We are already producing more than 40% of our electricity from renewable sources and we need to increase this to 80% by 2030 to meet our sectoral emission ceilings.

The Commission for Regulation of Utilities, CRU, has determined in its November 2021 direction that new data centre connections offers must be based on them having adequate on-site dispatchable generation or storage or both as back-up.

In July of this year, the Government published a new statement on the role of data centres in Ireland's enterprise strategy. The statement addresses sustainable data centre development to align with Ireland's renewable energy targets, security of supply, sectoral emissions and climate priorities. The policy is clear that islanded data centre developments, that is, developments not connected to the electricity grid and powered mainly by on-site fossil fuel generation, would not be in line with national policy. The forthcoming climate action plan will set out a comprehensive pathway for the decarbonisation of our electricity sector in line with the sectoral emission ceilings.

While I am not referring to the Deputy himself, a large number of Deputies in this House seem to believe that all our woes and all our ills in respect of meeting our climate targets are down to the development of data centres. Ensuring that demand and supply match and that everything forms part of a decarbonised future is a real issue but we can do it. We will need and want data centres in our country because they are a central part of our economic strategy and security. However, they must be part of a plan for decarbonisation and, in my mind, they want to be. The companies behind these data centres are going to have to work with the Government, as I believe they will, to ensure we keep the economic strength that comes with data centres while not missing climate targets or seeing an impact on our energy security.

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour)
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Ireland could have 146 data centres if all approved projects and projects seeking planning permission go ahead. If all of these projects are completed, the power demand capacity will triple. The disorganised nature of this rapid growth in the sector is problematic for our climate ambitions and for families who are worried about the lights and heat going off this cold and dark winter. The Government needs to institute a moratorium on new connections until it gets to grips with what is happening. Those making these proposals have been labelled as too drastic but power outages and climate chaos are drastic outcomes. It is not just those on the Opposition benches who have been raising these concerns. We hear it privately from Government representatives as well. Indeed, a Government backbencher was making these very same points on national radio during the week.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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When this State enters a contract, it honours that contract. If contracts are breached, what can the Government be trusted to do in any other circumstances? Such breaches end up costing far more because people price in the risk associated with not being able to trust those who do not abide by contracts. It is therefore in our interests, as a State, to be honest and to abide by contracts we willingly enter into. That is not to say that we do not work with industry and tell it that it must be play its part in helping us meet decarbonisation targets. That is a key part of most companies' commitments, especially in light of the new accounting rules coming in. We will have to manage this. There will be an expansion. New data centres are already contracted for. There will be an increase. Additional capacity of 80 MW has been required each year for the last three years. The increase is likely to continue along those lines, although reducing somewhat in later years. That is what is expected in the medium term. That does not stop us from working with companies to ensure that their back-up power can help us to create a secure network, to ensure that this power comes from low or zero-carbon sources rather than failing to help us meet our carbon targets and to manage demand and choose locations in a way that helps us to balance energy security and climate considerations. We are working with the companies to make sure that is what happens.

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour)
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As the Minister knows, demand for gas for electricity generation, heating and other uses must fall by 40% this decade and by a further 80% in the 2030s if we are to meet our climate commitments. Despite this, we continue to prepare to build new gas-fuelled electricity generation plants. Even if all future data centres were to run on renewable energy, it would leave shortages of clean energy for other sectors. Gas is wrongly being peddled as a silver-bullet transition fuel. As the Minister knows, the effect of carbon emissions is cumulative. Is it not fair to say that we are locking in this infrastructure without a national plan?

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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For certainty on this matter, I wrote to Gas Networks Ireland earlier in the year. It is not just about data centres. There is a whole range of areas in which Gas Networks Ireland must be told to stop expansion. These include the delivery of gas to new homes and new data centres because it will only cost us later as we will have to take that infrastructure out. We have made it clear to Gas Networks Ireland that this is not where we are going under Government strategy. We are going to move towards very large-scale deployment of renewable energy. That will not be easy but I believe we can deliver it. That will give us a more stable fuel source for data centres at a lower cost while emitting less carbon. Electricity is the primary source of energy for the heating, cooling and power systems these data centres need for their operation. I will again refer to a meeting I attended at COP27 in Egypt with the largest of these new data centre companies. That company said that it was going to switch to measuring carbon associated with delivery hour by hour rather than just buying up renewable power supply. It recognises that it must ensure its operations move towards zero carbon hour by hour and we are going to work with that company on this. As a country, we can provide that capability through our renewables system, through grid management, which we are good at, and through energy management and balancing capability. We have every reason to help companies with delivering on this. This industry will not be gas-fired into the future. It will have to be zero carbon.