An Coimisiún Pleanála has granted planning permission to Amazon Web Services (AWS) to construct three data centre buildings in north Dublin.
Three years after plans were first lodged in December 2022, Universal Developers LLC has secured permission for the three buildings with a combined power load of 73MW for the AWS campus on a 65-acre site at Cruiserath Road, Mulhuddart, Dublin 15.
The site is located about 2.5km from the Blanchardstown Centre retail complex.
Fingal County Council had initially granted permission for the project in September 2023, but it was stalled after third-party appeals were lodged with the appeals board.
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The parties to appeal included Friends of the Earth, the Fingal One Future Group, Dr Colin Doyle, John Conway and Louth Environmental Group and Mannix Coyne.
Permission has been granted, having regard to an existing grid connection to the Cruiserath site and the existing infrastructure within the site to supply the proposed development.
The commission granted permission having regard to an existing agreement with EirGrid to provide power to the development and the location of the project within a wider development with an established data centre use.
The commission also noted the initial agreement with EirGrid that considered the overall power demand for the entire development, which was then factored into the national demands under the sectoral emissions ceilings guideline.
The commission also revealed that it took into account the decision paper on large energy users connection policy concerning data centres published by the Commission for Energy Regulation on December 12th.
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Permission is conditional on the developer entering into a corporate purchase power agreement with a renewable energy provider before the operation of the data centre.
The commission has ordered that the amount of electricity generated by the new renewable energy projects shall be equal to, or greater than, the electricity requirements of the data centres in operation at any given time.
The commission concluded that the proposal would have no unacceptable impacts on the environment or on property in the vicinity.
It stated that the proposed development has the potential to have an adverse effect on the climate as a result of greenhouse gas emissions from electricity generation to power the data centre buildings. However, it stated that subject to the implementation of mitigation measures, the residual impact on climate from the construction and operational phases would not be significant.
In granting permission, the commission said it adopted the report and recommendations of its own inspector in the case.
