Data centre opposed by author Sally Rooney has planning overturned on climate concerns

A data centre objected to by author Sally Rooney has had its planning permission overturned on grounds it breaches national climate policy. The facility was to be built in Killala, Co Mayo by Mayo Data Hub Ltd, part of US firm Avaio Digital. It received planning permission from Mayo County Council last year despite numerous objections, including one from Rooney, the Normal People author and Mayo resident. Rooney argued it would be a wasteful use of electricity that would require burning of fossil fuels to generate, and that it was not an acceptable development in a climate crisis. READ MOREAnother objector subsequently lodged an appeal with An Coimisiún Pleanála which ruled this week that the applicants had failed to show there was sufficient electricity locally to serve the centre and they had no on-site renewable energy to compensate. Overturning the data centre’s permission, the commission said there was also a lack of evidence that the project had any corporate purchase power agreement with a renewable energy supplier. “The applicant has failed to demonstrate that the proposed development would be in accordance with the overarching objectives of the Climate Action Plan 2025,” it said in its ruling. “Notwithstanding a number of renewable wind energy projects in the vicinity of the appeal site, the applicant has not provided any evidence that the proposed development could avail of locally generated renewable power for the development and that there is sufficient capacity in the grid to service the development. “The proposed development is considered to be premature in the absence of this detail.” Interviewed by local media last year, Avaio Digital said the data centre – which was to be a 30,000sq m facility – represented a €1.5 billion investment which would provide 300 construction jobs and up to 35 full-time jobs when operational. The location had been chosen because of constraints on the electricity supply and grid connections around the M50 where the majority of data centres are located. North Mayo, by contrast, has numerous wind farms generating surplus electricity with few heavy users to create strains on demand. The company intended having its own backup generators using fossil gas and/or biodiesel. The commission said, however: “Although the applicant has identified there is a significant level of renewable energy projects in the north Mayo area, they have not indicated how the development would avail of these projects.” The commission’s decision also said that the proposed development would likely have significant effects relating to emissions of greenhouse gas from energy generated from fossil fuels.In her submission, Rooney had questioned the value of activity within data centres generally, arguing that much of it was advertising which was “pointless” and “does not improve the overall quality of life for anyone”.