Irish company Herbata’s planned €3 billion Co Kildare data centre will get half its electricity from renewables and draw no power from the national grid, says chief executive Gerry Prendergast.
Herbata Ltd plans to build a complex of six data-centre buildings at a site next to the M7 motorway and business park at Naas, Co Kildare, in a move that has sparked concern from local groups.
The company has changed the design to boost the centre’s renewable electricity intake and to ensure that it does not take power from the national grid, according to Mr Prendergast.
Data centres’ need for electricity has put them at the centre of a national controversy that blew up four years ago when it emerged that power supplies were threatening to lag demand.
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Herbata has answered Kildare County Council’s request for further information, made following the planning application in August 2024, with a document setting out steps to curb electricity demand and greenhouse gas emissions.
The company’s chief executive says the centre’s original design would have produced 28 million tonnes of carbon dioxide over the project’s predicted 20-year lifespan.
“We had discussions with Kildare County Council and we got that down to six million tonnes, and then we got it down to 4.5 million tonnes over the life of the project,” he said.
Herbata plans to source 50 per cent of its electricity from corporate power purchase agreements with renewable generators, mostly wind and solar farms.
The company hired consultants BOS Energy to negotiate these deals. It has provided the council with draft legal agreements and letters from two likely green electricity suppliers.
Herbata originally planned to get 30 per cent of its electricity from renewables.
It will have an on-site gas-fired power plant to provide the other 50 per cent of its electricity needs. That will use a more efficient system than the original design, cutting both fuel consumption and carbon dioxide emissions.
Mr Prendergast hopes its fuel mix will be 20 per cent hydrogen to begin with, increasing to 100 per cent by 2039. Burning hydrogen turns it to water, meaning it does not produce greenhouse gas.
It will also have a facility allowing it to use biomethane, carbon-neutral gas produced mostly from farm waste, which will aid it in keeping a reliable flow of renewable power.
Mr Prendergast predicts that the centre will operate at “net zero carbon” by 2039.
In addition, he says the complex will not require any water from the municipal supply system.
The company’s response to Kildare County Council notes that it has modified its design to avoid any impact on archeological remains discovered on the site.
The centre will be made up of six buildings of 18,208sq m each on a site that Mr Prendergast notes is zoned for data centres.
He observes that there is high demand for data storage here, while several likely clients have already approached Herbata.
“There are lots of clients out there looking for data storage,” he says. “We haven’t responded to anyone yet as we wanted to get the perfect model first.”
He notes that 53 people worked on the centre’s design, including two environmental scientists. “It’s the first of its kind in the industry,” Mr Prendergast added.
