Ireland to Allow Data Centers to Link Up to Fossil Fuel Plants

Ireland is set to green-light policies that allow data centers to use fossil fuels to power their operations, a shift that highlights the tension between economic growth and climate goals.

Developers have been lacking official guidance about how they could enact a February proposal by the regulator that would effectively give way to computing hubs to generate their own power using fossil fuels. One way that will be permitted is for investors to build a cable linking to stations burning natural gas for a time-limited period and in exceptional cases only, according to a person familiar with the government’s thinking.