James Geoghegan (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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162. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if he is developing plans to streamline the co-location of islanded data centres with large, multi-use urban developments that incorporate district heating into their design; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33183/25]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail)
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Ireland has attracted the best data centre and tech companies in the world. This is a really important relationship, and the Government continues to work with the sector towards a secure and decarbonised energy future. However, data centres, like all large energy users, have to exist within the boundaries of our climate legislation and targets.

This is why the Programme for Government contains key commitments such as enhancing data centres’ use of renewable energy sources, energy efficient technology and effective solutions, such as waste heat capture for district heating to reduce their carbon footprint. However, as articulated in the July 2022 Government Statement on the role of data centres, ‘islanded’ data centres, that are not connected to the electricity grid and are powered mainly by on-site fossil fuel generation, would not be in line with national policy.

Nonetheless, Government policy recognises the contribution that district heating can make to Ireland’s energy and climate goals. District heating is a proven technology that can play a key role in improving energy efficiency and reducing emissions in the heat sector. In that regard, my Department is in the process of transposing Articles 26 of the Energy Efficiency Directive (EED). Article 26 of the EED requires data centres with a total rated energy input exceeding 1 MW utilise the waste heat or other waste heat recovery applications unless they can show that it is not technically or economically feasible. My Department and the District Heating Centre of Excellence in the SEAI are working with project sponsors to progress the expansion of district heating based on the use of waste heat from data centres.

More broadly, the Programme for Government seeks to address the challenges of balancing energy needs by committing to scale up investment in critical infrastructure and our electricity grid which will be advantageous for customers and enhance the data centre and digital economy footprint to support continued FDI investment.