Galway Bay fm newsroom – The proposed location of a planned 850 million euro data centre in Athenry will be discussed in detail at a city oral hearing this afternoon.
The hearing got underway yesterday under An Bord Pleanala inspector Stephen Kay, and is expected to continue for several days.
The county council granted planning permission for an Apple data centre at Palmerstown, Tobberroe and Derrydonnell last September.
However, this decision was appealed to An Bord Pleanála by 8 individuals or groups, while a further 20 have made observations on the planned development.
A number of concerns have been raised about the environmental impact of the project – including a possible increase in flooding, loss of amenity space, and its impact on local flora and fauna.
However, some groups and individuals remain supportive of the data centre project – and say that once small concerns are dealt with, the project will provide a much needed boost to Athenry and the east Galway region.
Discussions today have once again focused on the energy requirements of the planned data centre – and the projected energy requirements if all eight data centres outlined in Apple’s master plan for the Derrydonnell site were built.
However, Apple pointed out that the application being dealt with at this week’s hearing is for one centre, which it hopes to open in 2018 – and further energy requirements would not come into play until at least 2035.
Furthermore, the tech giant says it remains committed to running the Athenry facility on 100% renewable energy, to keep it in line with the rest of its global data centres.
To this end, Apple has put a contract in place with Irish energy supplied, Vayu, which sources renewable energy from wind, landfill gas, hydro and biomass projects.
This afternoon, the oral hearing is moving on to the second of three main topics – which is the site selection process and location of the planned development.
Under this heading, appellants and observers will discuss issues such as the loss of amenity space, proximity to homes, schools and other local services, and the lack of land zoning in the area.
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