Ennis data centre first to be approved under new government policy
Clare County Council has granted approval for a 450-million data centre in Ennis, making it the first to be approved under new government policy.
The Art Data Centre Campus will create between 400-450 permanent jobs when the data centre campus is fully operational. Up to 1,200 will be employed in construction and 600 jobs in support services. Construction of the campus will be phased over a seven-year year period commencing in 2022.
The new government policy statement on the role of data centres in Ireland’s Enterprise Strategy was published late last month, and the and the Ennis Campus is considered to align well with the policies set out therein.
The campus will comprise six data halls of 33mw each, Energy Centre & Vertical Farm designed on a flexible and modular basis, covering 145 acres and 1.3 million sq ft.
It has access to 200 mega-watts of power from both the network grid and gas generation on site, it aligns with the current CRU requirements for dispatchable power and is located in an unconstrained area. The proposed site, adjacent to Ennis, was zoned in 2019 for ‘Data Centres & Power Generating Infrastructure’.
The Ennis project underpins the government policy statement as it has the key infrastructure on the 145 acres including access to grid, main gas interconnector running through site which facilitates self-generation availability on site, and access to both wind and solar farms in Co. Clare through the grid or private wire.
It also has the key availability of existing high-speed fibre located both on & adjacent to the site.
The energy centre turbines have been designed to run on green hydrogen which is hoped to be available by 2030, when the project is due for completion.
Tom McNamara, CEO of Art Data Centres, the developer of the project, said: “This is great news for this data centre campus and for Clare as the project will be a key pillar of the Ennis 2040 Economic Plan for the area…
“This Ennis Project fulfils the government’s key requirements immediately while state bodies, regulators and the electricity sector work to upgrade infrastructure, connect more renewable energy and ensure security of supply,” McNamara said. “The infrastructure that is available in the Ennis site will assist government in national ambitions to deliver ongoing opportunities for the country in the tech industry.”
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