Dail to debate bill to regulate data centres tomorrow
Dail to debate bill to regulate data centres tomorrow - The Labour Party
- Energy regulator to be given power to demand clean energy and limit greenhouse gases from data centres
- Bill would help drive down household energy bills
Labour climate spokesperson Ciarán Ahern TD has called for a common sense approach to regulate data centres.
Speaking in advance of his Electricity Regulation Bill 2025 which goes before Dáil Éireann tomorrow, Deputy Ahern said:
“Data centres now make up almost a quarter of Ireland’s national energy consumption and a significant portion of the power they’re using is coming from fossil fuels like gas.
“This Government is green lighting more data centres which are in turn soaking up more and more of our energy. This is ultimately pushing us further away from reaching our climate targets and adding more and more to people’s energy bills.
“This Bill would empower the CRU, the energy regulator, to issue specific emissions reductions and abatement instructions to data centres.
“These instructions could include measures like a requirement for data centres to power systems entirely through renewable energy generated on-site.
“If we take these steps we reduce the demand for gas in Ireland. In doing so, we can drive down the cost of energy bills.
“Clean, renewable energy is much cheaper than fossil fuels. The more we produce, the closer we get to displacing gas as the price-setter.
“The Labour Party has consistently called for a moratorium on new data centre construction and a comprehensive levy on energy use of these centres.
“However, as this Government continues to encourage the unfettered expansion of data centres, Labour want to see guardrails put in place to reduce emissions and drive down bills. My Bill would achieve this and I urge Government to consider it in good faith.”