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Ireland embraced the AI boom. Now its data centres are consuming too much of its energy
Huge new buildings kitted out with powerful computers consumed 21 per cent of the nation’s electricity last year – leading to increased power demands and increased bills. MATT O’BRIEN reports
[Markus Spiske / Creative Commons] 
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DOZENS of massive data centres humming at the outskirts of Dublin are consuming more electricity than all of the urban homes in Ireland and starting to wear out the warm welcome that brought them here.
Now, a country that made itself a computing factory for Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft and TikTok is wondering whether it was all worth it as tech giants look around the world to build even more data centres to fuel the next wave of artificial intelligence.
Fears of rolling blackouts led Ireland’s grid operator to halt new data centres near Dublin until 2028. These huge buildings and their powerful computers last year consumed 21 per cent of the nation’s electricity, according to official records. No other country has reported a higher burden to the International Energy Agency.
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