Google plans data centre expansion in Dublin

The tech giant says it wants to develop a 72,400 square metre data storage facility, which the application says “will incorporate data halls, with associated support areas, a high voltage compound” as well as offices and staff facilities.

The development will also include a new “active travel thoroughfare connecting Grange Castle Business Park South with Profile Park Road”.

A spokesperson for Google told the Irish Independent: “We have issued the formal notice that we will be submitting a planning application to expand our existing data centre in Ireland. This application reflects our ongoing commitment to meeting the growing demand for our services and supporting Ireland's digital economy."

Asked how big an investment this would represent, or how many jobs would be created, the spokesperson: “Unfortunately we are not in a position to share.”

Google opened its first data centre at Grange Castle ten years ago. The business park now plays host to several data centres linked to other tech companies. They include CyrusOne, Digital Realty, Equinix, Amazon and Microsoft.

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Vantage is due to open its first operation in Ireland there, with an investment of more than €1bn.

The website of South Dublin County Council says: “One of the world’s leading ICT players, Google calls Grange Castle International Business Park home. Google commenced development of a 30,000sq meter data centre facility at Grange Castle Park in 2014.”

Four years later Google announced it was investing €150m on a second data centre there, a facility that would create about 400 jobs at peak during its construction. At the time it brought Google’s total capital investment in Ireland to €1bn since 2003.

Earlier this year Google appointed Vanessa Hartley as its Ireland country lead, following the departure of Adaire Fox-Martin who had become CEO of Equinix.

Data centres are an increasingly contentious issue due to concerns over the amount of energy they consume. In 2022, South Dublin County Council was told by the Government to drop its ban on their development in the region, saying it was not in tune with national policy.

Data centres now consume close to 20pc of the power on the Irish electricity grid, but the Government has remained supportive of them, due to the amount of employment that Big Tech firms in Ireland create.

Last year Microsoft got planning permission to operate a gas-powered plant at the site of its data centre in Grange Castle, with the aim of reducing the energy demands it places on the national grid.

Google and other large tech companies have applied for licences to run other types of on-site power generators, as a way of reducing the consumption of their data centres.

The International Energy Agency has previously forecast that electricity demand in Ireland will increased by 7pc a year until 2026, the highest rate in Europe, and driven by the needs of data centres. It has been estimated that the centres could consume up to 30pc of all electricity supply by 2030.