No Power-hungry Data Centres in Northern Ireland

In October 2024, Derry City & Strabane District Council approved planning permission for the North’s first AI hyperscale data centre at Foyle Port, with outline permission granted for three more. We now know that AI data centres can carry enormous environmental costs.

Yet the Northern Ireland Executive is calling for the expansion of data centres across Northern Ireland.

Hyperscale data centres place huge demands on electricity and water. They require enormous amounts of energy to operate and vast amounts of cooling, either consuming millions of litres of water or requiring even more electricity or both. There is also a connection application for a massive 300MW data centre at Kilroot.

These developments are being driven by some of the world’s wealthiest technology corporations, including Amazon, Google and Meta. Northern Ireland should not be expected to sacrifice its water, energy security, environment and jobs to meet the ever growing demands of multinational tech companies.

There is also a serious risk that the expansion of AI data centres will increase emissions and prolong dependence on fossil fuels. These centres operate 24/7 and require a constant, reliable supply of electricity. At the same time, growing electricity demand is being used to justify bringing in more large scale wind developments in our designated Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, causing further damage to landscapes and communities.

The Northern Ireland Executive has now published an AI Strategy, which is open for consultation until 7 October. It states:

“Our natural resources could establish us as a pioneer in green data centre provision, and with that a magnet for foreign direct investment.”

The Executive is also using high levels of wind curtailment as an argument for attracting huge new data centres to consume this electricity. But the answer to a failing or constrained grid is not to create enormous new sources of electricity demand.

If large amounts of renewable electricity are being wasted, then we should be addressing the reasons why, i.e. grid constraints, where generation is being built, transmission capacity and how our electricity system operates. We should not use those failures as justification for bringing in energy hungry hyperscale data centres.

Northern Ireland needs to decide what its limited energy and water resources are actually for. Are they for homes, communities, public services and sustainable local industry, or for AI hyperscale data centres?

We are therefore demanding an immediate review of the planning and approval process for data centre developments in Northern Ireland, a comprehensive public consultation on their cumulative impact on energy, water, emissions, infrastructure and the environment, and a ban on any more data centre approvals.

Our water and energy security are more important than feeding the limitless appetite of billionaire tech corporations.