The great LEAP forward: The future of data centre delivery in Ireland

The Government’s January 2026 announcement of its Large Energy User Action Plan (LEAP) represents a step change in Ireland’s approach to data centre delivery, setting out an ambitious plan-led approach for the future development of this class of large energy users (LEUs).

Data centre demand for electricity increased from c.5% of Irish electricity demand in 2015 to c.22% by 2024 and is set to increase further by 2030, as the sector continues to grow towards contracted demand levels.

This rapid rollout of data centres in Ireland, driven by developer demands, has (almost inevitably) resulted in an acute misalignment between vital policies, investment priorities and supporting infrastructure delivery.

In the midst of increasing power demands from the industry, the Government has sought to address the resultant dearth of grid capacity, severe localised constraints, and ever pressing climate and sustainability objectives in the form of a coordinated response via the LEAP.

International comparators

While Ireland has been an early mover in the area of data centres, it is far from alone in experiencing the logistical issues associated with a rapid increase in electricity demand due to the buildout of data centres.

Virginia

Virginia (USA), through which c.70% of the world’s internet traffic passes each day, is widely hailed as the data centre capital of the world. Dominion Energy, a vertically integrated utility that owns and operates transmission infrastructure in Virginia, supplies power to c.80% of the state’s data centres. Virginia’s Loudon County “Data Center Alley” data centre cluster has been driven by a demand-led approach to connections under State law. While Virginia has managed to service the huge demand for connections to-date, its legislature is currently reviewing measures to slow the rate of data centre connections to mitigate against increases in the cost of power in the State.

Germany

The largest data centre hub in Europe, Germany is generally developer-led with localised capacity allocation schemes having recently been rolled out in the regional hotspots of Frankfurt and Berlin. While these constituent schemes introduced unique capacity allocation at a local level (Frankfurt sees a pro-rata capacity allocation among applicants, while Berlin repartitions available capacity in equal shares among applicants), there is no consensus across the rest of the country as to the adoption of such models.

As such, it is apparent that those regions in which data centre clusters have grown are in the early stages of developing approaches to manage the insatiable demand for power from this economically essential class of users.

LEAP – Upcoming changes

For Ireland, the LEAP represents an innovative plan-led approach to the development of data centres.

While noting that the exploration of flexible demand capabilities may unlock grid capacity in the Dublin area, the Government acknowledges that these opportunities are likely to be extremely limited due to existing critical regional constraints.

Green energy parks

A central tenet of the LEAP is the facilitation, through pro-active planning, of “green energy parks”. Under this plan-led approach connections will be allocated to data centres that co-locate alongside renewable generation and other energy infrastructure, reinforcing the renewable energy and proximate generation requirements of the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU’s) LEU Connection Policy.

The planned rollout of green energy parks in strategic regional locations will be supported by a number of major actions scheduled for delivery ahead of 2030, including:

• market redesign by way of reformed electricity tariffs and system services markets in a revised National Energy Demand Strategy for 2026 that incentivises co-location with economic opportunities;
• CPPA ‘route to market’ development for the private procurement and divestment of offshore wind;
• the granting of enhanced powers and responsibilities to System Operators and the CRU;
• enhanced real time data centre emissions reporting; and
• legislation on Private Wires. Targeted for 2026, this long-awaited legislation will implement the Private Wires policy announced in July 2025 to facilitate the installation of private electricity infrastructure, expediting infrastructure delivery and unlocking the deployment of the proximate renewable generation essential to green energy parks.

While this new approach represents a deviation from the developer-led approach that has operated to-date in Ireland, the LEAP recognises the value of developer-led delivery via its stated objective of encouraging developer-led investments in green energy parks. To assist prospective developers in this regard, the Government’s consideration of a ‘single point of contact’ approach, to co-ordinate permit granting procedures and streamline the consenting process, is a notable objective of the LEAP for developers.

Conclusion

The LEAP looks to deliver the Government’s objective, of “enabling the twin transitions of digitalisation and decarbonisation”.

The Government has recognised a number of systemic issues in respect of grid capacity, local constraints, sustainability objectives, data centre development gridlock and decarbonisation, and has devised a pathway to connect new data centres in this context. Innovative legal and regulatory approaches will be required to both deliver and navigate this substantial policy pivot and the widespread reforms that lie ahead.

Colm Booth
Partner, William Fry LLP