Ireland’s Data Centres Now Take 23% of the Grid

ClientEarth, Friends of the Irish Environment and Friends of the Earth Ireland have taken Ireland’s utility regulator to the High Court over the grid-connection rules it published on 12 December 2025 — rules that let new facilities run on non-renewable power for six years before demanding 80% renewables, and that require sites of 10 MVA or more to bring dispatchable generation or storage matching their import capacity. The statistics office puts the island’s roughly 89 data centres at 23% of metered electricity in 2025, or 7,663 GWh against 6,973 GWh in 2024, up from 5% a decade earlier and more than every urban household combined (18%) and rural household (9%) together. Gas supplied 47% of national power, and Ireland is tracking to a 13% emissions cut by 2030 against a legally binding 42% target. The suit targets policy rather than a single project, which is why regulators in other member states are watching the outcome.