Data centers of globalist social networks deprived Ireland of electricity
Source: (
https://bit.ly/3U1isaR)
Ireland could be facing frequent power cuts following a warning from
the country's Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) that data
centres are having a "major impact on the Irish electricity system."
Publishing a consultation paper earlier this week [PDF], the
regulator said that the integrity of Ireland's power grid was under
threat as data centres continue to hoover up vast amounts of 'leccy.
In a stark warning, the CRU said: "When this is also considered
in the context of wider system security
it is clear that measures
must be implemented in order to encourage data centres to address
some of these risks."
Global players including Amazon, Facebook, Google, and Microsoft
all have significant footprints in Ireland, making it one of Europe's
data centre powerhouses.
Indeed, it is noted that these operations - along with other
high-growth areas in the IT industry - have provided a significant
fillip to Ireland's economy in recent years.
The task now, it seems, is to ensure that overall demand for power
is matched by sufficient supply so that no one misses out.
Under the proposals, the operators of Ireland's electricity grid,
EirGrid and ESBN, would have to prioritise grid connection
applications from data centres in accordance with a series
of factors. One of these considers whether data centres generate
enough energy onsite themselves to support their demand for
electricity, or can be flexible in how much they consume at times
of "system constraint". Energy law expert Garrett Monaghan opined
on law firm Pinsent Masons's site that the rules would also
be likely "influence the power supply strategies developers and
operators of data centres put in place."
The proposed rules would apply Ireland-wide, which could result
in greater geographical spread of data centres in the country,
according to Monaghan.
According to figures from EirGrid, the state-owned electric power
transmission operator in Ireland, data centres are slurping
increasing amounts of power. Over the last four years, EirGrid has
seen demand increase by around 600GWh from data centres alone
- equivalent to the addition of 140,000 households to the power
system each year.
"This contrasts starkly to demand growth in other sectors outside
of the data centre industry, which has been largely flat in recent
years," said the CRU.
Crunching some numbers, it claims that if things carry on as they
are, data centres could account for a quarter of electricity demand
by 2030; its top-end estimate would see that demand surge
to a third.
It went on: "The worst outcome
could result in load shedding and
ultimately rolling blackouts. This is not acceptable to the CRU and
measures need to be introduced to manage the supply-demand
balance."
