DUBLIN, Ireland: Amazon Web Services (AWS) has received planning permission from An Coimisiún Pleanála (ACP) to construct three new data centres in north Dublin.

Universal Developers LLC has secured planning permission in December 2022 for three data centres with a combined power load of 73MW for the AWS data centre campus on a 65-acre land-holding at Cruiserath Road, Dublin 15.

Fingal County Council had initially granted planning permission for the project in September 2023, but it was stalled after five third-party appeals were lodged with ACP.

The parties to appeal were Friends of the Earth, the Fingal One Future Group, Dr Colin Doyle, John Conway and the Louth Environmental Group, and Mannix Coyne.

The ACP granted permission to Universal Developers LLC, taking into account the existing grid connection to the Cruiserath site and the existing on-site infrastructure to supply the proposed development.

ACP also granted planning permission because there was an existing agreement with Eirgrid to provide power to the development, and because the development was located within a broader development with an established data centre use.

ACP also accepted the initial agreement with Eirgrid, which considered the overall power demand for the entire development and was then factored into the national demand under the Sectoral Ceiling Emissions.

ACP also revealed that it accepted the decision paper on Large Energy Users connection policy concerning data centres published by the Commission for Energy Regulation (CER) on December 12th of this year.

Planning permission is subject to the developer signing a Corporate Power Purchase Agreement with a renewable energy provider before the data centre begins operations.

ACP also required that electricity generated by new renewable energy projects must match or exceed the power needs of the data centres at all times.

The commission concluded that the project would not cause any unacceptable impacts on the environment or nearby properties.

It said the development could have an adverse effect on the climate due to greenhouse gas emissions from electricity generation. Still, it added that, with mitigation measures in place, the remaining impact during construction and operation would be minor.

In approving the project, ACP said it accepted the findings and recommendations of its inspector. AWS had told ACP that the development would have no significant impact on the climate.

The consultants said emissions from the overall data campus project at Cruiserath are expected to reach 262,535 tonnes of CO2 in 2030, representing 8.8 per cent of the electricity sector emissions ceiling for that year.

AWN Consulting said its assessment confirmed that the proposed development and the wider project are climate-proofed.