Results 581-600 of 3,983 for speaker:Jennifer Whitmore
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: General Oversight of EirGrid: Discussion (30 Jan 2024)
Jennifer Whitmore: I thank the witnesses for their presentation. I want to go back to the point Dr. Foley made on the IEA report. It is stated on page 1 of EirGrid's generation capacity statement that 30% of all electricity demand will be from data centres by 2032. On another page, it is stated that this will happen in 2030. I assume the latter is a typo and that it is 2032.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: General Oversight of EirGrid: Discussion (30 Jan 2024)
Jennifer Whitmore: We compare this with the IEA's statement that it will be 32% by 2026. Mr. Foley has said this overly exaggerates the situation. So that we can compare like for like, what are EirGrid's predictions for 2026?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: General Oversight of EirGrid: Discussion (30 Jan 2024)
Jennifer Whitmore: Is this 25% based on contracts or what EirGrid believes the data centres will actually be consuming at that point?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: General Oversight of EirGrid: Discussion (30 Jan 2024)
Jennifer Whitmore: EirGrid's predictions are not based on the contracted amounts. Its predictions are based on what it believes the ramp-up capability will be at that point.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: General Oversight of EirGrid: Discussion (30 Jan 2024)
Jennifer Whitmore: I assume that will be impacted by economic conditions and technology advances like AI-----
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: General Oversight of EirGrid: Discussion (30 Jan 2024)
Jennifer Whitmore: The IEA has made the point that the increase and ramp-up in energy consumption, due to the incorporation of AI into tech and all those services, will happen quicker.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: General Oversight of EirGrid: Discussion (30 Jan 2024)
Jennifer Whitmore: I understand that there are low, medium and high predictions and modelling. Is it not worthwhile incorporating into that what the maximum is, and what all these data centres are using? I know Mr. Foley is saying that is not going to happen, but it is my understanding that all these data centres could access that energy with no additional permissions required or anything like that. They are...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: General Oversight of EirGrid: Discussion (30 Jan 2024)
Jennifer Whitmore: I am not talking about the IEA.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: General Oversight of EirGrid: Discussion (30 Jan 2024)
Jennifer Whitmore: I am not talking about the IEA here. I am talking about whether, from a precautionary perspective, EirGrid should be incorporating what data centres are actually entitled to access and using.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: General Oversight of EirGrid: Discussion (30 Jan 2024)
Jennifer Whitmore: The high-demand prediction is 2,100 MVA and the actual contracted capacity is 2,300 MVA. Is that correct?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: General Oversight of EirGrid: Discussion (30 Jan 2024)
Jennifer Whitmore: Okay. It is just that in the document,-----
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: General Oversight of EirGrid: Discussion (30 Jan 2024)
Jennifer Whitmore: Can I just ask-----
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: General Oversight of EirGrid: Discussion (30 Jan 2024)
Jennifer Whitmore: I can come back in later.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: General Oversight of EirGrid: Discussion (30 Jan 2024)
Jennifer Whitmore: It still does not match what-----
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: General Oversight of EirGrid: Discussion (30 Jan 2024)
Jennifer Whitmore: The document states that "there is presently approximately 2000 MVA of demand capacity that is contracted to data centres and other new technology loads at the transmission level, and approximately a further 300 MVA contracted at the 110 kV distribution level." The document refers to 2,300 MVA.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: General Oversight of EirGrid: Discussion (30 Jan 2024)
Jennifer Whitmore: I wish to return to the previous discussion on data centres. I understand the point made by EirGrid in that regard. From its perspective, it does not care from where the energy or demand is coming. In essence, if there is demand, its aim is to meet that demand. That is my feeling on it.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: General Oversight of EirGrid: Discussion (30 Jan 2024)
Jennifer Whitmore: We have heard concerns in respect of getting renewable energies on the grid. All present would agree there have been delays in that regard and we may not be on target to meet the 2030 obligations. If we continue to facilitate and connect new data centres, or existing data centres that are not using their agreed and contracted capacity, but do not match that with electricity generation from...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: General Oversight of EirGrid: Discussion (30 Jan 2024)
Jennifer Whitmore: It is. The conversation on this point has been going around in circles in recent years, however. One of the things in respect of which we need to be more strategic is the kind of data centres we have here. Does EirGrid believe there should be an allocation whereby a certain amount of energy demand would be set for data centres and the types of data centres we would allow to access that...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: General Oversight of EirGrid: Discussion (30 Jan 2024)
Jennifer Whitmore: I will look through this document quickly.