Offaly firm gets go-ahead for €1bn data centre project

An Offaly company has been given the planning go-ahead for a proposed €1 billion data centre and energy campus near Rochfortbridge in Westmeath.

The project by Red Admiral DC Ltd, owned by Offaly businessman Nigel Reams and part of his Lumcloon Energy Group, comprises a six-unit data centre and a decentralised energy resource.

The project is being developed in partnership with SK Ecoplant, a Korean engineering company that announced its collaboration with Lumcloon to supply power to the data centre in 2023 from solid-oxide fuel cells, which generate electricity from natural gas.

Red Admiral DC’s was granted approval on Tuesday by Westmeath County Council to build a large data centre, together with a massive solar farm, on a 600-acre (243ha), subject to 32 conditions.

The applicants have previously indicated that the project would provide an estimated 760 direct jobs and an additional 1,000 indirect jobs during a five-year construction phase.

The new data centre will be unique in being co-located with a hybrid energy system using a combination of solar energy and fuel cell technology to generate power as well as a 250MW x 2hr energy storage facility. This design will allow the use of renewable energy via the national grid and generation locally at high efficiency.

The application was lodged directly with Westmeath County Council followed a ruling by An Coimisiún Pleanála that the proposed the development was not a Strategic Infrastructure Development (SID) and could not be submitted directly to the planning commission.