Calls for an oral hearing into plans by AWS to build three new data centers in the Irish capital Dublin have been rejected by planning authorities.
Campaigners are seeking to block the development, which would see data centers with a total IT capacity of 73MW built on a 65-acre site Cruiserath Road, Dublin. Planning permission was originally granted in 2023 and, after this, an appeal against the decision was launched by Friends of the Earth.
The environmental pressure group requested a hearing at which it could make its case against the development, but Irish planning authority An Bord Pleanála said this week that it did not intend to hold such an event, the Irish Independent reports.
In a letter to Friends of the Earth, An Bord Pleanála said “it has decided to determine the appeal without an oral hearing,” having “concluded that the appeal can be dealt with adequately through written procedures.”
Jerry MacEvilly, Friends of the Earth’s head of policy, said the campus would put more pressure on Ireland’s power and “it is at best unclear how the operation of the proposed development will be compatible with the increasingly stringent carbon budgets.”
The appeal was lodged in October, and a decision had been due by May 10. However, An Bord Pleanála has delayed making a ruling due to a backlog of cases and has not set a new deadline.
The trio of data centers, known as Data Centre E, Data Centre F, and Data Centre G, would have a gross floor area of 1,425 sqm (15,350 sq ft), 20,580 sqm (221,520 sq ft), and 20,580 sqm respectively, each over two levels.
Solar panels and heat recovery systems to warm the office buildings were due to be installed at the site, with AWS saying it would look to procure ‘renewable diesel’ for backup fuel and would set up beehives on the campus.
AWS had hoped to start work on the first building on the site in 2023. The company already operates Dublin campuses in the Clonshaugh Business and Technology Park, in Fingal County’s Blanchardstown, and one further south in Tallaght, but reportedly paused some projects in Dublin due to the moratorium on new grid connections. Earlier this year it was said to be restricting the amount of resources available at its data centers in the Irish capital amid concerns about power availability.
