Apple Athenry data centre

weshtawake · 11-07-2017 2:07pm #1

What a great country when a couple of crank objectors can scuttle plans for a multi Euro "green" investment by one of the biggest corporations in the world. One of the objectors I note lives in Wicklow where, obviously, he would be seriously impacted by the development....not!

westgolf · 11-07-2017 7:17pm

weshtawake wrote: »

What a great country when a couple of crank objectors can scuttle plans for a multi Euro "green" investment by one of the biggest corporations in the world. One of the objectors I note lives in Wicklow where, obviously, he would be seriously impacted by the development....not!

And he has also objected to another data center in North Dublin.

stampydmonkey · 11-07-2017 8:14pm

westgolf wrote: »

And he has also objected to another data center in North Dublin.

Is that Mr. Sweetman?

cfeeneyinterior · 11-07-2017 10:19pm

stampydmonkey wrote: »

Is that Mr. Sweetman?

https://www.siliconrepublic.com/companies/athenry-apple-data-centre-verdict-postponed

"Two years ago, Apple announced its plans to build an €850m data centre in Athenry. A sister data centre was also announced for Denmark.

Two years on, the Danish data centre is almost complete, while not one sod has been turned on the Athenry project."

cfeeneyinterior · 11-07-2017 10:22pm

cfeeneyinterior wrote: »

https://www.siliconrepublic.com/companies/athenry-apple-data-centre-verdict-postponed

"Two years ago, Apple announced its plans to build an €850m data centre in Athenry. A sister data centre was also announced for Denmark.

Two years on, the Danish data centre is almost complete, while not one sod has been turned on the Athenry project."

On hold ... Fair play to them..... P#*CK

https://www.irishtimes.com/business/technology/second-danish-centre-for-apple-with-galway-facility-on-hold-1.3149472?mode=amp

inisboffin · 11-07-2017 11:08pm

Wait, wasn't all this about Athenry?
Is there something else planned for the City?

12-07-2017 8:11am

Looking more risky ?

https://www.irishtimes.com/business/technology/galway-businesses-concerned-apple-centre-may-be-shelved-1.3150706

dilallio · 12-07-2017 8:31am

The guy in Wicklow is not Sweetman. He wants the data centre to be built on his own land and is objecting to other applications.
http://uk.businessinsider.com/there-are-now-only-2-people-opposing-apples-irish-data-centre-in-court-2017-2

weshtawake · 12-07-2017 8:52am

Mc Donagh is his name and as the other posted noted - it's because he wants to build it in Wicklow 140 miles away from where Apple have decided they wish to build it!!

ronnie3585 · 12-07-2017 10:04am

weshtawake wrote: »

Mc Donagh is his name and as the other posted noted - it's because he wants to build it in Wicklow 140 miles away from where Apple have decided they wish to build it!!

He's not party to the current proceedings, his application didn't go ahead.

biko · 12-07-2017 12:16pm

Apple announced plans in February 2015 to build the centre in Galway on the same day it unveiled plans for another facility in Denmark. The Danish data centre is expected to go live later this year but work on the project in Athenry has yet to get under way.
In addition, Apple announced plans to build a second data centre in Denmark on Monday. It will spend 6 billion Danish krone (€808 million) on the facility, which will run entirely on renewable energy.

https://www.irishtimes.com/business/technology/further-blow-to-galway-as-apple-sets-up-data-centre-in-china-1.3151835

joeKel73 · 12-07-2017 12:43pm

Shouldn't this be in the Galway County forum?

connemara man · 12-07-2017 12:52pm

J o e wrote: »

Shouldn't this be in the Galway County forum?

A project that big so close to the city would impact the city surely

inisboffin · 12-07-2017 1:21pm

connemara man wrote: »

A project that big so close to the city would impact the city surely

Ah now. Lots of stuff could impact the City. Sure this would impact Athlone too surely?

The City gets all the cool toys. :P

biko · 12-07-2017 2:00pm

We'll leave it here for now anyway.

billbond4 · 12-07-2017 2:10pm

inisboffin wrote: »

Ah now. Lots of stuff could impact the City. Sure this would impact Athlone too surely?

The City gets all the cool toys. :P

Its not a cool toy, just a warehouse with lots of servers in it and a few cleaners.

Fozzie Bear · 12-07-2017 3:25pm

stampydmonkey wrote: »

Is that Mr. Sweetman?

No, Mr Sweetman was one of the principal people who helped bring down the plans for Galway City Outer Bypass 1.0, because of bog cotton....

joeKel73 · 12-07-2017 5:56pm

Fozzie Bear wrote: »

No, Mr Sweetman was one of the principal people who helped bring down the plans for Galway City Outer Bypass 1.0, because of bog cotton....

He's a serial objector...
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/environment/energy-people-peter-sweetman-objector-1.2114488

biko · 13-07-2017 1:20pm

Let's get back to the data centre

the whole year inn · 13-07-2017 1:27pm

biko wrote: »

Let's get back to the data centre

Not as if apple are going to run out of data centers,surely this will go ahead, just a matter of time.

Raging_Ninja · 13-07-2017 1:33pm

the whole year inn wrote: »

Not as if apple are going to run out of data centers,surely this will go ahead, just a matter of time.

Not if it's too much of a pain in the ass to even get work started it won't. Denmark will have completed two datacentres before we can even build one. And other companies interested in building infrastructure projects like this will take one look at Apple's experience and go somewhere else.

There is a massive opportunity cost to huge delays in projects like this.

I'm willing to bet that we could have gotten that 2nd datacentre and the jobs and facilities that come with it had the Athenry project been nearing completion by now instead of languishing in the courts.

the whole year inn · 13-07-2017 1:43pm

Raging_Ninja wrote: »

Not if it's too much of a pain in the ass it won't. Denmark is getting two datacentres before we can even build one. And other companies interested in building infrastructure projects like this will look at Apple's experience and go somewhere else.

I'm not up to date with this, where are they with getting a verdict on the way people that are protesting? I searched there and only found an article from March.

connemara man · 13-07-2017 1:45pm

I follow the Apple for Athenry group on Facebook and they've said that the decision keeps getting deferred. I'd say it's quite frustrating. A building that will employ a lot to build then keep a good few in employment thus reducing the need to travel to and from Galway every day employment.

Subcomandante Marcos · 13-07-2017 1:48pm

connemara man wrote: »

I follow the Apple for Athenry group on Facebook and they've said that the decision keeps getting deferred. I'd say it's quite frustrating. A building that will employ a lot to build then keep a good few in employment thus reducing the need to travel to and from Galway every day employment.

No, it won't. It will employ a relatively small workforce for a building of it's footprint and then will employ a handful of people once it's operational. Data centres employ very, very few staff. Local business thinking this place will keep cafes and restaurants open are in for a shock when the handful of engineers continue to live in/around the city.

machiavellianme · 13-07-2017 1:52pm

Yeah just 5 per MW of power on average between it and the supporting industries. That's only about 150 odd people getting good jobs for the data centre proposed here.

connemara man · 13-07-2017 1:53pm

Subcomandante Marcos wrote: »

No, it won't. It will employ a relatively small workforce for a building of it's footprint and then will employ a handful of people once it's operational. Data centres employ very, very few staff. Local business thinking this place will keep cafes and restaurants open are in for a shock when the handful of engineers continue to live in/around the city.

I said a good few what's that 20-50 between admin engineers cleaning maintenance security etc

The build itself will bring a short term boom through the town and fir small businesses that are used to irregular business they can make that last for a while

And there's a knock on when things like this get delayed to the point of incompletion is that the area looks less appetising for new businesses to develop in

the whole year inn · 13-07-2017 2:26pm

machiavellianme wrote: »

Yeah just 5 per MW of power on average between it and the supporting industries. That's only about 150 odd people getting good jobs for the data centre proposed here.

I'm don't understand when you say supporting industries, I always thought to run these data centers takes very little staff.

nuac · 13-07-2017 2:46pm

Fozzie Bear wrote: »

No, Mr Sweetman was one of the principal people who helped bring down the plans for Galway City Outer Bypass 1.0, because of bog cotton....

Not just the extremely "rare" bog cotton ( which is common ) but also because some pylons for the proposed extra bridge would have been built into the limestone pavement.

The limestone pavement in that part of the West stretches from north Clare, under Galway Bay, portion of Co Galway and north into Mayo. Plenty of space for a few pylons.

There should be some limit on ability of objectors to hold up such projects

ronnie3585 · 13-07-2017 3:34pm

Subcomandante Marcos wrote: »

No, it won't. It will employ a relatively small workforce for a building of it's footprint and then will employ a handful of people once it's operational. Data centres employ very, very few staff. Local business thinking this place will keep cafes and restaurants open are in for a shock when the handful of engineers continue to live in/around the city.

This is an extremely important point that has been lost in all the hysteria.

Mrs OBumble · 13-07-2017 3:36pm

Subcomandante Marcos wrote: »

Data centres employ very, very few staff. Local business thinking this place will keep cafes and restaurants open are in for a shock when the handful of engineers continue to live in/around the city.

Just like all the engineers who work in the city now live in the city, and don't commute in to work from Athenry and the likes ...

Raging_Ninja · 13-07-2017 3:53pm

ronnie3585 wrote: »

This is an extremely important point that has been lost in all the hysteria.

The numbers are debatable. 150 seems reasonable since there will be 24 hour coverage 7 days a week for a datacentre, which would break down to maybe 30-50 per shift between maintenance, engineering, admin, etc.

So yes, there will be increased local business and the jobs that brings.

Plus you are discounting he absolute pain in the hole all this nonsense is for Apple and negative publicity it brings to us. I bet a lot of other multinationals who would have been interested in setting up a datacentre or other larger infrastructure here are looking long and hard at this project and considering walking away when it comes to either entering or expanding operations here.

Apple Athenry data centre

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