Apple's new Irish data centre could increase electricity consumption in Ireland by 8.2%, according to a document that can be accessed through Galway County Council's website.
Galway County Council received a detailed letter from an engineer named Allan Daly last May expressing a number of concerns he has over an €850 million (£599 million) data centre that Apple wants to build in a forest near Athenry, on the west coast of Ireland. Electricity consumption and energy sources are among Daly's top concerns.
The vast majority of people in Athenry appear to be in favour of the data centre but there are a number of issues that Apple may have to address if it is to get the green light on the development.
Apple wants to use the data centre to store European user data and to help power online services including the iTunes Store, the App Store, iMessage, Maps, and Siri for customers across Europe, according to a press release announcing the development in February 2015. In the same release, Apple said the data centre will run on 100% renewable energy.
Daly, a senior engineer at Sierra Research, starts his letter by saying that the electrical power demand for Apple's data centre is "enormous," before going on to calculate how much electricity the data centre will consume by the time all eight data halls have been built. It's worth noting that the full build out would take around 15 years, during which time Ireland will likely increase the amount of electricity available on its grid.
"It is safe to say that Apple's data centre will be the largest single user of electricity within the Republic of Ireland — by far" writes Daly.
The "Environmental Impact Statement" that Apple produced before submitting its planning application to Galway County Council gives an indication as to how much electricity the data centre will use. It states:
30MW of power required for operation of the proposed development, rising to 240MW if full built out — major power consumption.
In his letter, Daly goes on to calculate what he believes to be the annual electricity consumption of the data centre.
"Because data centres must operate continuously (8,760 hours per year), Apple's annual electrical energy usage is estimated to be 262.8 gigawatt hours (GWh) for the proposed development of one data hall, and 2,102 GWh for the full build out of eight data halls. In comparison, the entire Republic of Ireland consumed 25, 780 GWh in 2014."
Daly includes a number of footnotes in his letter to show where his figures have been sourced. He goes on to highlight how one data hall will increase electrical energy usage across the Republic of Ireland by 1%, while eight data halls will increase it by 8.2%.
Professor Ian Bitterlin, a consulting engineer at Critical Facilities Consulting and a visiting lecturer at Leeds University, told Business Insider that the 8.2% increase in Ireland's total electricity consumption sounds plausible.
Daly continues: "Due to the monumental power demands of the proposed development, this impact must be evaluated." He adds "it is an issue of national importance."
In its "Revised Environmental Impact Statement (EIS)," Apple states on page 267 that its single data hall will have an initial power requirement of 6MW when it comes online in 2017. This would be 0.17% of Ireland's national electrical power, according to projections from EirGrid, the state-owned electric power transmission operator in Ireland. The revised EIS states that the individual data hall will have a power requirement of 30MW when it reaches full capacity in 2021, which equates to approximately 0.78% of Ireland's national electrical power use for 2021.
At full capacity in 10-15 years time, the maximum power requirement will be 240MW, though it will likely be less because of technical improvements in energy efficiency. Apple's EIS claims this power demand equates to 2.5% of Ireland's current national electrical power consumption.
Following the publication of this story, Daly wrote directly to Business Insider. He said:
Apple attempts to downplay their electrical energy use by making comparisons to Ireland’s generating capacity, rather than to Ireland’s actual usage. Apple also tends to make comparisons to future (forecasted) capacity/usage rather than to the current baseline levels, which of course, decreases the percentage. (The convention in Environmental Assessment is to assess impacts relative to current conditions, not forecasted future conditions).
Apple subsequently provided a utilisation factor of 88% in their Revised EIS, meaning that at buildout of the full masterplan (8 data halls), instantaneous power consumption would be 240 MW, while long-term base load demand would be 211.2 MW. If I were to revise my calculation, it would be fair to Apple to apply this factor when calculating long term (annual) energy use.
But the fact remains that Apple has separately applied for a direct connection to the National Grid and substation to deliver 240 MW to their facility. This is hugely significant compared to Ireland’s current system demand curve, which is currently bounded (this week) in the 2,000 MW to 4,000 MW range.
Apple filed a planning application to build a 263,000 square foot data centre hall in the middle of Derrydonnell Forest next to the golf course last April. Apple has only sought planning permission for one data centre hall but it envisions building up to eight in a phased approach. Apple would have to reapply for planning permission each time it wants to build a new data hall.
Apple declined to comment.
