Apple’s long running battle to gain approval on its $1 billion Western Ireland data centre plan has come to an end as the Irish High Court gives it the go ahead.
The drawn out process has put tension on the relationship between the Irish government and the tech giant, with Apple cautioning the decision makers on potential damage to future plans.
Originally planned two years ago, the data centre is intended to be situated in rural, Western Ireland. The process would generate hundreds of jobs for the construction, in addition to around 150 permanent positions.
Residents of Anthenry marched in support of the data centre, aiming to persuade the government to allow the plans to go ahead.
If the plan does now go ahead, it will mark one of the most significant capital investments in this part of the country, and Apple has very specific reasons for choosing this location. The company has been motivated by the renewable energy potential in the area, a growing trend among the leading tech companies.
Ireland is not the only target destination for new Apple data centres, with a new facility in Denmark set to go live before the end of 2017. The geographical situation of this data centre may also be based to some extent on the green energy potential.
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Google is now approaching a major milestone of being 100 per cent powered by renewable energy, with the company set to make this achievement upon the expiry of previously signed energy deals. Google has said that this move is central to its long term mission.
London is also set to become home to a new data centre, with Virtus poised to construct a centre on a massive eight acre plot of land, consisting of two separate campuses named LONDON5 and LONDON6.
This new Virtus centre will be supplying 40MW of IT load to the capital, with the facility future proofed to be able to handle up to a colossal 150MW.
