Google has been denied planning permission for another data center in Dublin, Ireland.
As reported by local press including RTE and the Irish Business Post and Times, South Dublin County Council has refused Google’s request for planning permission for a new building at the Grange Castle Business Park in south Dublin.
The council cited what it called “the existing insufficient capacity in the electricity network (grid) and the lack of significant on-site renewable energy to power the data center” as reasons for refusal.
It added that the lack of clarity around Google’s Power Purchase Agreements in Ireland and the lack of a connection to the surrounding district heating network were also factors in its decision.
Google filed to build a 72,400 sqm (779,310 sq ft) facility on a 50-acre site, adjacent to the two facilities it already has there, in June 2024. The company said the new facility, set to go live around 2027, would be powered through an existing grid connection authorization from local operator EirGrid.
The search and cloud company declined to comment to local press about the matter. Google has the option of appealing the decision to An Bord Pleanala, the Irish planning board.
Google first announced plans to convert a warehouse in Dublin back in 2011, with the data center going live in 2012. The company was granted permission to build a now-live two-story, 30,360 sqm (326,790 sq ft) data center next to its existing facility back in 2014.
The company said it has invested around €500 million ($535.3m) in the site to date. Google doesn’t currently operate a cloud region in Ireland.
Dublin is subject to a defacto moratorium on new data centers imposed by state-owned grid operator EirGrid, which has said it won't grant any new application requests until 2028. Several operators have looked to get around this with on-site power generation or connections to the country’s gas network.
Operators including Microsoft, Vantage, Digital Realty, CyrusOne, and EdgeConneX are present around the Grange Castle area of Dublin.
Despite opposition, Amazon was recently granted planning approval for another data center at its campus in Fingal County. Other companies, including Servecentric and Equinix, have seen planning permission for new facilities denied.
