Hydrogen Ireland welcome news that an Irish county is looking into integrating data centres with renewable energy and green hydrogen.
County Offaly plans to launch a new feasibility study aimed at attracting data centre investment backed by renewable power. The study joins a wider analysis of the potential uses of green hydrogen created from renewable energy production at the proposed Rhode Green Energy Park.
The ‘Exploring Data Centre Integration with Renewable Energy and Green Hydrogen in the Midlands’ study will “research how best to shape the development of the energy transition project at Rhode (Rhode Green Energy Park) to match the data centre sector requirements and ambitions, with a view to attracting significant inward investment and employment creation,” tender documents state.
The study will focus on three main areas – technical, market, and conceptual. “The technical strand will focus on energy systems integration challenges for data centres in the Midlands, specifically how a very low carbon operational configuration can be achieved given the prevailing conditions and renewable energy availability,” the tender says.
Market research “will involve research in co-operation with existing data centre operators and those with plans for expansion in Ireland,” while concept development will “research the best model or models that can be applied to develop a successful concept.”
