Site portrait

Eir Data Centre Blanchardstown

Dublin · Eir · operating

Independent observatory

The five pillars behind the grade

Energy 3 of 6 measures E
Water 2 of 4 measures B
Land & biodiversity 2 of 7 measures B
Local impact 0 of 7 measures –
Transparency & governance 0 of 2 measures –

A pillar with no letter rests on too few measures to defend one. We publish the count rather than a letter we could not stand behind.

The points that will decide

Energy

Grid connection capacity / proximity : grid saturated at the connection point
Local grid carbon intensity : 194.5 gCO2e/kWh
Grid congestion / connection queue : critical local grid congestion

To ask for : What PUE is announced, and measured how? to claim from the authority — the site is running, only its operating conditions still bite

Water

Local water stress : no measured water stress in the area
Water body status : water body in poor status

To ask for : Which cooling technology, and how much water a year — into an already impaired watercourse? to claim from the authority — the site is running, only its operating conditions still bite

Land & biodiversity

Overlap / distance to protected areas : protected natural area 1–5 km away
Soil status (artificialized / natural / agricultural) : previously developed land

To ask for : What ground footprint, and on which parcels? to claim from the authority — the site is running, only its operating conditions still bite

What this looks like from the street

Noise — continuous, day and night

Cooling runs permanently and standby generators are tested on a schedule. What is regulated is not a distance but how far the noise rises at the neighbour's.

We hold neither a nearest-dwelling distance nor an acoustic study for this site. Both are obtainable: the study is a document in the file.

Standby generators and their fuel

A facility like this keeps standby generators and the tanks that feed them. They are what gets tested, what gets smelled, and what triggers its own permitting. Their number, their fuel and the volume stored are in the file where one exists.

We measure no health effect and we do not claim to. We publish what is in the file, and what is not.

What we have not measured

Heat-network connectabilitynot yet collected by us
Basin withdrawal pressurenot yet collected by us
Ecological corridors (TVB)verified absent from the file we read
Municipality socio-economic profilenot yet collected by us
Absorption capacity (project size vs municipality)verified absent from the file we read
Technological hazard / nearby Seveso sitesnot yet collected by us
Observed level of oppositionverified absent from the file we read
Elected officials' position (voted facts only)verified absent from the file we read

These gaps are ours, not the developer's: they say where our measurement stops, and they do not penalise the site.

Where the procedure stands

announced
under review
under construction
operating

The permit is issued by the authority this country designates — usually the municipality for planning, a regional or national authority for the environment.

The European floor applies regardless: at least thirty days to comment on the impact assessment, publication of the decision AND its reasons, access to a court, and any environmental information available on request within one month.

What we have not yet read is the national appeal deadline — the one that, once the permit is granted, does not come back. No directive sets it: it runs from three weeks in Sweden to two months in France and Spain. Ask the issuing authority for it, and ask before they grant.

What to get written into the approval

To ask for : What PUE is announced, and measured how? to claim from the authority — the site is running, only its operating conditions still bite
To ask for : Will the waste heat be recovered, by whom, and from which phase? to claim from the authority — the site is running, only its operating conditions still bite
To ask for : Which cooling technology, and how much water a year — into an already impaired watercourse? to claim from the authority — the site is running, only its operating conditions still bite
To ask for : What ground footprint, and on which parcels? to claim from the authority — the site is running, only its operating conditions still bite
To ask for : Which avoidance, reduction and offset measures? to claim from the authority — the site is running, only its operating conditions still bite
To ask for : Is the land already designated for development in a supra-municipal plan? to claim from the authority — the site is running, only its operating conditions still bite
To ask for : Does the planning document have to be changed for this project? to claim from the authority — the site is running, only its operating conditions still bite
To ask for : How many permanent jobs after construction, and of what skill level? to claim from the authority — the site is running, only its operating conditions still bite
To ask for : What tax revenue for the municipality, over what period, with what abatements? to claim from the authority — the site is running, only its operating conditions still bite
To ask for : What consultation is planned, on what date, and who answers it? to claim from the authority — the site is running, only its operating conditions still bite
To ask for : Is the full file open to consultation, where, and until when? to claim from the authority — the site is running, only its operating conditions still bite

Commitments that are not in the approval cannot be enforced: what is not written cannot be demanded later.

↔ Technical sheet — the measures one by one, their values and their sources