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Irish Times
3 days ago
- Business
- Irish Times
Ireland's electricity infrastructure policy rewiring should be a matter of public debate
Last month, one of Ireland's most significant policy statements this century regarding our infrastructure was published by the Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment . The policy statement on private wires - a major change to our electricity infrastructure , allowing for private lines to be constructed and connected between private generators and energy sources to users - will soon form a significant part of the government's agenda. The prospect of private wires offers a number of solutions in a number of areas. For example, it will potentially expand (private) electricity infrastructure for charging electric vehicles . By far the most interesting recent design development in this realm is the German company Rheinmetall's Curb Charger, which fits flush into a pavement, meaning no obtrusive charging arms or ugly charging stations that add to street clutter. READ MORE These policy changes will also allow data centres to bypass the electricity grid and connect directly to generators and energy sources such as wind and solar farms, thus fuelling themselves independently. This is policy that Big Tech seeks, and forms part of government strategy to support data centres. It can also be framed as a solution, albeit reactionary, to the pressure on our electricity grid. Data centres consume 22 per cent of all metered electricity in Ireland, representing a 531 per cent rise in a decade. As AI takes hold, the energy needed to power data centres is going to increase in ways that are almost difficult to conceptualise. [ Electricity storage policy and 'private wires' regime to speed up renewables delivery Opens in new window ] Amazon and Meta, with foresight, have already privately built wind farms, or wholesale bought the entire energy output of Ireland's largest solar farms. The reality is, energy infrastructure and the amount of power needed to fuel data centres is not expanding as quickly as AI and the data centres that run it are. Therefore, depending on how you view things, governments need to be dynamic in their policy responses, or the data centre tail is now wagging the electricity infrastructure dog. Remember, the 'cloud' is not a cloud. It's physical, and takes the form of gigantic, energy-ravenous buildings that pockmark the landscape around Dublin. There are plenty of questions about this next phase of the data centre boom in Ireland. Photographer: Liesa Johannssen-Koppitz/ Bloomberg As a nation, Ireland is now known as the data centre capital of the world. Unfortunately, we are not the energy infrastructure capital of the world. The grid could not take the number of connections being demanded. Something had to be done, because the die was cast. Right now, the majority of Ireland's data centres (and there are plenty more planned) are concentrated around the Greater Dublin Area, due to electricity and fibre infrastructure practical realities. This has put huge pressure on the grid, particularly in the capital, leading to a series of rolling tensions between the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU), ESB Networks, local authorities, ministers, central government, Big Tech, the data centre industry, and their lobbying ecosystem. But what if the grid didn't matter? Data centres in the Dublin area that were denied grid connections may now have another option at powering themselves. Land bought up by data centre companies may now be viable for development. But what if Dublin was no longer the most convenient location for data centres? In the future, it will make more sense for data centres to be located closer to where offshore wind comes ashore. [ Cabinet approves scenarios for firms to build private electricity lines in Ireland Opens in new window ] So what if data centres could bypass both the grid and capital, and connect to energy sources via private wires and power themselves independently, anywhere? And what are the consequences of data centres potentially moving away from the Greater Dublin Area? We have already encountered many consequences regarding the first part of the data centre boom: the significant proportion of our metered electricity use and the ensuing grid capacity and connection issues. What will a new phase of the boom bring? Some of those consequences may begin to be felt in rural Ireland. The same month the Irish government published their policy statement, a cartoon by Lynn Hsu ran in The New Yorker, showing a father and son standing before a vast field. The caption read, 'One day, son, this farmland will be yours to sell to a tech company building a data centre'. [ Ireland's electricity grid struggles with increased supply from renewables Opens in new window ] Unlocking agricultural land for data centre development is an emerging matter of contention in the US. For example, Meta is building the largest data centre in the western hemisphere in rural Louisiana on what used to be soybean fields. Back in Ireland, Amazon and Bord na Móna have already announced a 'strategic collaboration', welcoming Amazon Web Services to Bord na Móna's 'Eco Energy Park'. Amazon also has a power purchase agreement with Derrinlough Windfarm in Offaly. Is rural Ireland ready for more? Building hyperscale data centres and the energy infrastructure to fuel them privately, obviously means buying land. Would an expansion into rural Ireland be met with enthusiasm by land-owning (and selling) farmers? What are the zoning implications? Will this be framed as investment in rural Ireland when data centres do not provide significant employment and the real jobs in the companies that own them are far away? Will rural grassroots organising resist industrial development? Or will data centres remain concentrated in Dublin, Meath, Louth, and Wicklow? There are plenty of questions about this next phase of the data centre boom in Ireland these policy changes will instigate. But at the very least, our electricity infrastructure policy being rewired should be a matter of public debate.
Fast Company
05-06-2025
- Automotive
- Fast Company
Can you find this sidewalk EV charger? It's hiding inside the curb
A typical EV charger in the U.S. is a bulky, 6-foot-tall box in a parking lot. In Germany, a startup is rolling out a new type of charger that looks very different: Called the Curb Charger, it fits seamlessly inside a curb at the edge of a street. The Curb Charger 'upgrades existing urban infrastructure and adds hardly any additional street furniture to cities,' says Felix Stracke, vice president of new mobility at Rheinmetall, the company that designed the charger. (Rheinmetall's primary business is defense manufacturing—the $80 billion company is the largest arms manufacturer in Germany—but it diversified into EV charging when it saw the opportunity for growth.) For an apartment dweller who parks their car on the street, having curbside charging suddenly makes it much easier to own an EV. Instead of driving to a store and waiting while the car charges, it's possible to plug in overnight or when the car would otherwise be parked for hours. It also makes slow charging feasible, which helps EV batteries last longer and is less of a strain on the grid. Larger chargers don't necessarily fit well on a curb. On a narrow sidewalk, they can take up too much space; they're at more risk of vandalism; they can also block views and change the visual identity of a historic neighborhood. But the scaled-down design of the new chargers is nearly invisible. That invisibility is also a challenge, since drivers can't quickly spot a charger. But an app can be deployed to direct someone to the nearest charging point. chargers that double as streetlights or packaging them in a sleek box that looks better than a conventional charger and is easier to install. The Curb Charger sits inside a case that's exactly the same size as a standard German curb. (The size can be adjusted for other locations.) It's strong enough that a heavy truck can drive over it, and it's waterproof, so the system can keep working in heavy rain. Drivers activate it through an app or by scanning a QR code. It does require that drivers have their own charging cord, though that's standard in Europe. Rheinmetall says the equipment doesn't cost more than a conventional charging station, and the small size means that installation can be simpler and cost less. If a charger needs repair, the charging module can be swapped out, making maintenance less expensive as well. When streets have major repairs, they could potentially be rebuilt with the hollow curb cases, ready to add the charging equipment as needed.
