Apple has re-applied for planning permission to build a data center in Athenry, County Galway, as the deadline to deliver on the original plans for the site is nearing expiration. The technology giant initially secured permission to build an €850m datacentre in Derrydonnell Forest in Athenry in 2015. Still, he abandoned its plans after progress on the project stalled in the face of various legal actions and local opposition.
In October 2019, it emerged that the site had been put up for sale and was being marketed by real estate agents in Ireland and the US as a “ready-to-go datacentre development” called “Data Hub West”.
The marketing materials for the site state that the “masterplan” is for the site to house a total of eight data halls once the development is completed, although planning permission has at present only been granted for the first phase of the build.
However, the planning permission granted for the first phase of the build, which covers the construction of a data hall, a logistics and administration building, and other “ancillary structures and site works”, is due to expire on 24 September 2021.
According to a filing on the Galway County Council planning portal, the site remains under the ownership of Apple Data Services, and an entity trading as Apple Distribution International filed an application on 14 June 2021 to request the planning permission deadline for the development be extended by five years.
“It is anticipated that the development will be completed within the extension period sought, i.e., by the 7 November 2026,” the filing states. At the time of writing, the local council still assesses the application. Still, the supporting documents state that an extension is requested to give Apple more time to find a third party to develop the site.
“The applicant intends to support the provision of the consented works by identifying interested parties to develop the project and who can then proceed with the consented works within the relevant timeline,” the document stated.
Computer Weekly contacted Apple and the real estate agents overseeing the site’s marketing to determine how efforts to find a developer are progressing. Still, no response from either party was forthcoming at the time of publication.
When news first emerged in October 2019 that the Athenry site had gone on sale, datacentre market industry watchers said they expected it to sell relatively quickly given Apple’s plans for the area had been approved by the council and by the courts, and also because of how high demand for datacentre capacity in Ireland is.
That said, most of the data center development interest has come from the hyperscale cloud giants wanting to build out their server farm footprints in and around the Dublin area.
So many concerns have been repeatedly raised by market watchers, government policymakers, and utility providers about whether Dublin’s electricity grid is equipped to cope with the growing and intensive demand the city’s transformation into a significant data center hub is generating.
Earlier this month, the Irish Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) instructed Ireland’s National Grid operator to prioritize applications from datacentre operators requesting access to the grid whose sites will be located where power supplies are in abundance.
Sustainable management
According to the Irish Times, this decision has resulted in the future of around 30 proposed data center developments being called into question. Also, it coincides with a consultation by the CRU about the sustainable management of power supplies to data centres.
As the Irish datacentre community awaits the outcome of the consultation, a Sinn Féin representative for Galway East, Louis O’Hara, has called for the Athenry site to be purchased by the state so that it can be repurposed as a hub for local and overseas start-up businesses.
As reported by the Galway Advertiser, the site should not be left “lying idle” as it has “significant potential” if it were to receive the backing of state agencies and bodies like IDA Ireland, concerned with attracting overseas investment to Ireland.
“Athenry and communities across County Galway are crying out for investment,” said O’Hara. “The economic benefits that development of the site would bring would provide an enormous boost to the region, increasing local employment, driving regional development, and ensuring our local communities have a sustainable future.”
