Latest news with #EchelonDataCentres
Irish Times
3 days ago
- Business
- Irish Times
Norwegian sovereign wealth fund invests €400 million in Kingspan
Norway's sovereign wealth fund has taken a stake worth more than €400 million in Dublin-listed insulation and building materials specialist, Kingspan Group, the Sunday Times reports. Norges Bank, which manages the Government Pension Fund Global, took a 3.06 per cent position in the company at a share price of €75.50 on Friday. The total central bank managed fund is worth around $1.8 trillion. In a trading update for the quarter ended March 31st, Kingspan said it overcame a slow start to the year to record a good financial performance. Group sales rose 9 per cent year on year to €2.1 billion, and were 'modestly ahead' on an underlying basis. Sales of its insulated panels rose 4 per cent, while underlying sales were broadly in line, while insulation sales saw a similar performance, and roofing and waterproofing sales were up 55 per cent on the acquisition of Nordic Waterproofing. Amazon Web Services discussing €3.5 billion Arklow data centre takeover Amazon Web Services (AWS) is in early takeover talks with Echelon Data Centres regarding its €3.5 billion data centre Arklow, the Business Post reports. Neither party in the discussions commented. READ MORE Echelon, which launched the Arklow site project last month, are also planning a second data centre on a near-by site. The site was the first Irish data centre to receive a grid connection and is situated close to the SSE Renewables Arklow Bank Wind Park 2, from which it is said to be planning to purchase energy to offset the power demand from the data centre. Four Star Pizza feels the heat during franchise tech tensions Tensions have risen between Four Star Pizza and some franchisees following the introduction of a new digital trading system to handle sales within stores, The Sunday Times reports. Franchised pizza delivery business, Four Star Pizza Ireland, which owned by the Fitzwilliam hotelier Michael Holland is currently going through an expansion. Franchisees are said to be unhappy with the operation of the new system, and have resisted its implementation. The Sunday Times said it understands that franchisees have consulted legal advisers and are seeking a meeting with management on the matter. A statement from Four Star Pizza management said that it had a forum for franchisees to 'air opinions' and outside of which its communication 'has never been better'. Ryanair flights grounded by GPS issues Up to 50 Ryanair aircraft were temporarily grounded last week due to global positioning system (GPS) issues across a number of airlines, the Sunday Independent reports. Newer aircraft such as the Boeing 737 Max and Airbus 320s were particularly impacted by the problems which left thousands of passengers facing significant delays over a number of days, peaking on Thursday, May 21st. While it is reported no passengers were ever put in danger by the issues, numerous flights from Dublin, Cork, Shannon, Kerry and Knock airports faced issues.
RTÉ News
09-05-2025
- Business
- RTÉ News
Work to begin on large-scale data centre in Arklow
Work is to begin later this year on the first of two large-scale data centres in Arklow, Co Wicklow, which will create 715 permanent jobs as well as 2,600 roles during construction. The project has a total investment of €3.5 billion. The development is by Irish-owned company Echelon Data Centres which had operations in the UK, North America and Europe. The first of the two facilities was granted an electrical connection last year because it is located in an area where power supplies are not constrained. The project will also generate electricity which will be fed into the national grid. Its power will come from a mixture gas and renewables including solar, battery storage and biomethane. The project will have the facility to generate power and dispatch it to the electricity grid when needed. The first of the two data centres is being developed on the former Irish Fertilisers Industries plant at the Avoca River Business Park in Arklow. The second is being developed 5km away at Kish Business Park. The grid connection will allow Echelon to begin work on a 220kV substation that will allow access to the grid for up to 800MW of wind energy which is to be generated off the coast of Co Wicklow in future. The company says its investment in renewable fuels will "replace fossil fuel consumed". Last year the first facility, DUB20, became the first large scale data centre to receive a grid connection from State body Eirgrid for more than four years. The company said this reflected the fact that the site meets the Commission for the Regulation of Utilities criteria for data centres. Taoiseach Micheál Martin said the data centres "will deliver jobs and economic benefits for Wicklow and will encourage further foreign direct investment in Ireland". Last year, Echelon announced Starwood Capital Group had invested approximately €850m to become a 50% shareholder in the company. Both data centres will have to total IT load capacity of 90 megawatts each. Echelon already has data centres in Dublin and the UK and is run by CEO Niall Molloy. Friends of the Earth has raised major issues with data centres. Its campaign director Jerry MacEvilly said that the "significant problem is that data centres such as this are dependent on expensive, polluting gas power plants for long periods and often use significant amounts of gas".
