A new data centre will create 540 construction jobs and 90 full time operational roles.
Planning permission has been granted for 484,000 sqft data centre facility to be sited on the Avoca River Business Park in Arklow, Co Wicklow.
The €500m development is expected to be a catalyst for the rejuvenation of the site, attracting employers and investors to the area.
Wicklow and Deputy Spokesperson on Urban Renewal and Housing Pat Casey said: “The people of Arklow and South Wicklow are 100% behind this project, as demonstrated by the thousands of signatures and online petitions that were gathered in support of the development.
“I have been delighted to have worked with Echelon on this project since day one and will continue my efforts to ensure that this game changer for the economic development of South Wicklow is delivered as quickly as possible. I’d like to thank the Echelon team for their efforts and their commitment to Arklow.”
Echelon Data Centres first tranche of capacity – at the Clondalkin, Dublin site – will come on stream in 2021, and the company still expects to have availability for occupation at the Arklow site by 2021.
Echelon Data Centres chief Graeme McWilliams said: “Clearly, the decision removes a significant uncertainty for us and clears the path to delivering a facility that will enhance Ireland’s developing data centre offer, meeting growing demand from global organisations in ecommerce, telecommunications, digital broadcasting, AI and the internet of things.
“Power supply has been secured and the Arklow facility will deliver 100MW of capacity to the market. This is sizeable in its own right, however, when combined with the site we have in development in Clondalkin - and further sites we have identified - we will be in a position to offer hyperscale tenants a potential 300MW of capacity in an Irish availability zone.
“Today’s ruling shows that Ireland is open for data centre business, and that the necessary decisions can be taken within a framework that allows developers a level of certainty. As the dataverse – the amount of data that is created each year – is set to triple in size by 2025, demand for facilities such as ours will increase rapidly and Ireland is well-placed to accommodate them.”
