Equinix has lost its appeal to get a new data center through planning permission in Dublin.

As reported by the Irish Examiner, Irish planning regulator An Bord Pleanála this week denied Equinix’s appeal to develop a data center along Nangor Road in the Profile Park Business Park, in the Clondalkin area of the Irish capital.

Equinix was denied amendments to the existing and previously granted planning permission for its DB8 data center by South Dublin County Council back in August 2023. The site was originally planned to be powered by the electric grid, but after failing to secure a permanent supply, adjusted the proposal to use gas power to power the facility.

Under the proposed amendments, the company aimed to deploy ten gas-fired generators and seven plant rooms on land previously earmarked for a future data center. The council ultimately ruled that Equinix had failed to secure an appropriate grid connection and thus refused the amended proposal.

The company filed an appeal with An Bord Pleanála in September 2023, which was denied this week.

In its published decision, An Bord Pleanála said the project wasn’t suitable for the site’s zoning due to its lack of grid connection, lack of significant on-site renewable power, a lack of evidence around PPAs, and proposed reliance on a gas power plant.

While the inspector has recommended that the project be granted permission – arguing that while data centers were core digital infrastructure that played a critical role in the Irish economy and society – government policy dictates islanded off-grid data centers are not in line with national policy, especially those reliant on fossil fuels.

“The operation of the proposed on-site gas power generation system (OSPG) on a long-term basis in the absence of a grid connection would be inappropriate and contrary to national climate obligations,” the decision noted.

An Bord Pleanála added that while “shorter-term usage of a gas plant – the report notes around eight years would be appropriate, [granting permission] would mean“ the powering of the data center solely by fossil fuel for a period such as eight years and it would not address what it called the “substantive issue: namely that on the evidence on file, there is no available grid connection.”

DCD has reached out to Equinix for comment.

Equinix has eight operational data centers in Dublin. The company recently acquired two data centers in the city from BT.

Profile Park is home to several data centers, including those owned by CyrusOne, Google, and Digital Realty.

The move to apply for gas-powered data centers has been motivated by the defacto moratorium on new data centers in Dublin imposed by state-owned grid operator EirGrid until at least 2028.

Around a dozen data centers have been given approval to be connected to Dublin’s gas network to get around the lack of grid connection, though this route has since been blocked off by the Irish government.

As a means to reduce the impact of new data centers on the Irish grid – though perhaps not ease grid capacity issues in constrained areas such as Dublin – Ireland’s energy regulator has proposed new rules that would require data centers to match their proposed loads with new renewable energy capacity.