Apple Athenry data centre

dubhthach · 17-01-2020 5:50pm

In related news there is now plans to build a undersea cable from Galway city (Ballyloughane as landing site) to Bilbao (WINS). This will provide a second link to contient bypassing Britain and would allow direct interconnection with the MAREA cable which runs from Bilbao to Virginia Beach. The MAREA cable is owned by Facebook and Microsoft.

I imagine both of them will be involved in funding the Galway to Bilbao cable as it will allow them to shift large amount of traffic onto cables that they own.

Facebook is already a part owner (with Google) in the Havfrue/AEC-2 cable which will have a landing station in Clew Bay via a branching unit. This cable is basically a branch of a cable from New Jersey to Norway/Denmark. Once it goes live it will allow for bypassing of Britain for traffic into Northern Europe from Ireland.

There is also proposed IRIS cable from Iceland to Mayo plus the proposed 'Celtic-Norse' cable from Mayo to Norway.

If all these proposals are built then West of Ireland (Mayo mostly but one cable in Galway) will have following capacity in the next 5 years:

AEC-1: 162Tb/s (operational)
AEC-2: 108Tb/s (under construction)
WINS: 90Tb/s (in planning)
Celtic-Norse: 160Tb/s (proposed)
IRIS: unknown -- may instead land in Scotland

Obviously WINS cable will ensure a Southern alternative transatlantic route by linking up with MAREA, as well as providing a Southern link to mainland Europe.

IFC-1 (Ireland-France cable) would be major game changer as it would provide 1.92Pb/s (1,920 Tb/s) of connectivity from Ireland directly to Paris (major Internet peering point) and thus onward connectivity to Amsterdam and Frankfurt (the biggest Internet peering points in EU along with Paris - post Brexit ) bypassing Britain.

GerardKeating · 24-06-2021 11:32am

Seems Apple resurecting their Athenry plans.

Sorry for resurecting a zoombie thread.

cnocbui · 24-06-2021 11:59am

So they got no takers when they offered the land for sale, I presume.

24-06-2021 1:03pm

GerardKeating wrote: »

Seems Apple resurecting their Athenry plans.

Sorry for resurecting a zoombie thread.

Looks more like they are simply extending the permission by a further 5 years, nothing more

afatbollix · 24-06-2021 1:06pm

cnocbui wrote: »

So they got no takers when they offered the land for sale, I presume.

It was IDA land. I don't think they bought it.

cnocbui · 24-06-2021 2:07pm

afatbollix wrote: »

It was IDA land. I don't think they bought it.

The y must have, to be able to advertise it for sale:

The tech giant Apple is selling a 500-acre plot near Athenry in Co Galway where it planned to build an €850m data centre, drawing a line under a five-year planning saga.

The site is being advertised for sale by property agents in the US and Ireland as Data Hub West, “a ready-to-go data centre development site”. Neither the American agent, Binswanger Global, nor Irish agent Maguire Chartered Surveyors in Dublin responded to requests for comment on the sale.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/apple-seeking-a-buyer-for-athenry-data-centre-site-d7vs0md8m

the whole year inn · 24-06-2021 5:22pm

cnocbui wrote: »

The y must have, to be able to advertise it for sale:

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/apple-seeking-a-buyer-for-athenry-data-centre-site-d7vs0md8m

Hopefully they come back with a proper purposal this time that suits everyone.

cnocbui · 24-06-2021 6:29pm

The only circumstances under which they should be allowed to build such a data centre is if they actually fund and build the renewable energy systems, including stored hydrogen + fuel cell - that can supply sufficient to power so that it does not add to the possibility or amount of fines the EU will levy on Ireland for not reaching CO2 targets.

Vague promises to work with renewable anergy suppliers or to purchase renewable energy aren't good enough.

AlmightyCushion · 24-06-2021 6:56pm

cnocbui wrote: »

The only circumstances under which they should be allowed to build such a data centre is if they actually fund and build the renewable energy systems, including stored hydrogen + fuel cell - that can supply sufficient to power so that it does not add to the possibility or amount of fines the EU will levy on Ireland for not reaching CO2 targets.

Vague promises to work with renewable anergy suppliers or to purchase renewable energy aren't good enough.

Why should we insist Apple do this but not every other company looking to set up or expand their business here?

Galwayguy35 · 24-06-2021 7:01pm

Apple should just tell the lot of them to go fook themselves and go to a country where their investment is appreciated.

cnocbui · 24-06-2021 7:11pm

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

Why should we insist Apple do this but not every other company looking to set up or expand their business here?

We probably should, when they look like only employing a handful of people while increasing the states energy usage by several percent - 8% in the case of Apple and the data centre reaching it's full projected size.

Markcheese · 24-06-2021 7:26pm

the whole year inn wrote: »

Hopefully they come back with a proper purposal this time that suits everyone.

Is there ever a proposal that suits every one ?
And it's unlikely they'll make any change at all - it has planning - if they change it now it's back to square 1 ...

wassie · 24-06-2021 7:44pm

Deleted User wrote: »

Looks more like they are simply extending the permission by a further 5 years, nothing more

Exactly this. Current planning expires 10/08/2021.

Having the development approval in place does potentially make the land more valuable to sell. Reading anything else into this (at the moment) is mere speculation.

Kingp35 · 25-06-2021 9:10am

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

Why should we insist Apple do this but not every other company looking to set up or expand their business here?

Every Data Centre looking to setup here should absolutely have to do this.

threeball · 25-06-2021 4:19pm

Kingp35 wrote: »

Every Data Centre looking to setup here should absolutely have to do this.

They should also be forced to use their waste heat to supply district heating networks. At least then the massive amounts of electricity used is not completely wasted. Theres enough energy being dumped from the large DCs to heat a couple of thousand homes.

We have zero chance of meeting our 2030 emissions targets with data centers gobbling up power the way they are. No district heating, no data centre. It should be that simple. Its in their interests too as it lowers their cooling costs massively.

Bobeagleburger · 26-06-2021 6:14am

cnocbui wrote: »

We probably should, when they look like only employing a handful of people while increasing the states energy usage by several percent - 8% in the case of Apple and the data centre reaching it's full projected size.

This data centre alone if it is went ahead would increase the state energy by 8%?

Thats pretty mental

AlmightyCushion · 26-06-2021 10:53am

6 wrote: »

This data centre alone if it is went ahead would increase the state energy by 8%?

Thats pretty mental

That was claimed by sometime objecting to it. Apple claimed it would be about 2.5% when are 8 halls are built. They weren't planning to build them all in one go. They would have been built over 15 years I think. You have to remember that these things are 24/7 so a lot of that energy usage would have happened when demand is normally very low and we have tons of capacity.

reniwren · 26-06-2021 11:09am

American TV is actively advertising for people to sign up to apps where of your notified you can only use a couple of lights in your house. To me that sounds like rolling blackouts.
With many people switching over to electric cars (which will be manually night charged) add a few data centers and watch the poor infrastructure turn into blown resisters.
They should need to have their own renewable power in place before a sod is turned.

Unicorn Milk Latte · 26-06-2021 4:15pm

reniwren wrote: »

They should need to have their own renewable power in place before a sod is turned.

The Apple facilities in Cork are fully self sufficient - no energy from the electric grid required. The roofs are full of solar cells.

This may actually be an issue, because companies like Electric Ireland can't make a profit by selling electricity to them...

Don't know about Athenry, but Apple has created thousands of jobs in Cork, and has expanded and kept hiring continuously since they opened.
I've been told Miles Davis played at the opening, back in the day....

cnocbui · 26-06-2021 5:07pm

Unicorn Milk Latte wrote: »

The Apple facilities in Cork are fully self sufficient - no energy from the electric grid required. The roofs are full of solar cells.

This may actually be an issue, because companies like Electric Ireland can't make a profit by selling electricity to them...

Don't know about Athenry, but Apple has created thousands of jobs in Cork, and has expanded and kept hiring continuously since they opened.
I've been told Miles Davis played at the opening, back in the day....

Would you have a link for this claim of Apple being off-grid, because in winter, you could easily see 20 day a month of negligable electricity generation from solar? It's not a viable power source at these latitudes for at least 3 months of the year.

AlmightyCushion · 26-06-2021 5:16pm

cnocbui wrote: »

Would you have a link for this claim of Apple being off-grid, because in winter, you could easily see 20 day a month of negligable electricity generation from solar? It's not a viable power source at these latitudes for at least 3 months of the year.

I seriously doubt they are off grid as that is incredibly difficult for any one to achieve. Probably just buying only green electricity.

gordongekko · 26-06-2021 6:25pm

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

I seriously doubt they are off grid as that is incredibly difficult for any one to achieve. Probably just buying only green electricity.

I think they purchased a wind farm somewhere that produces the same amount of energy that the plant uses

threeball · 26-06-2021 6:55pm

Unicorn Milk Latte wrote: »

The Apple facilities in Cork are fully self sufficient - no energy from the electric grid required. The roofs are full of solar cells.

This may actually be an issue, because companies like Electric Ireland can't make a profit by selling electricity to them...

Don't know about Athenry, but Apple has created thousands of jobs in Cork, and has expanded and kept hiring continuously since they opened.
I've been told Miles Davis played at the opening, back in the day....

No they're not. Thats the same BS that Google claim when they say they've been carbon neutral since 2007. Its a crock of sh#t. All they do is commit to buying power off a windfarm already been built which is normally hundreds of km away. They then claim all the power produced as theirs even though they're connected to the same grid as the rest of us. They make false claims about neutrality and us plebs pay fines to the EU for not making our targets.

gordongekko · 26-06-2021 11:13pm

The planning application has made the front page story of the spb. Not a lot new in it but it does suggest that Apple are interested in the project again.

wassie · 27-06-2021 12:59am

No it doesn't. All it suggests is that as a land owner, they are seeking to extend their development approval that expires in August for a further five years.

I'm not saying your wrong, rather unless you have specific information or their is an announcement, then all this talk is merely speculation.

Extending it simply allows them to keep their options open i.e. develop the project within 5 years or sell the land with development approval in place. This is what any prudent land owner would do.

gordongekko · 27-06-2021 5:39pm

wassie wrote: »

No it doesn't. All it suggests is that as a land owner, they are seeking to extend their development approval that expires in August for a further five years.

I'm not saying your wrong, rather unless you have specific information or their is an announcement, then all this talk is merely speculation.

Extending it simply allows them to keep their options open i.e. develop the project within 5 years or sell the land with development approval in place. This is what any prudent land owner would do.

If that's addressed at me I was just summarizing the article. If you've a problem with it take it up with the sbp

dubhthach · 28-06-2021 12:04pm

The vibe I've gotten here in the wider industry is that the main reason Apple is looking to extend the planning permission is to give them more time to find a buyer for the site. Lot easier to offload it to a third party if had Planning permission ready to go.

Wompa1 · 28-06-2021 1:15pm

dubhthach wrote: »

The vibe I've gotten here in the wider industry is that the main reason Apple is looking to extend the planning permission is to give them more time to find a buyer for the site. Lot easier to offload it to a third party if had Planning permission ready to go.

That is the way I have read it too. Based on Apple's track record for these types of projects in the last 10 years, we may have dodged a bullet.

dubhthach · 28-06-2021 2:15pm

Wompa1 wrote: »

That is the way I have read it too. Based on Apple's track record for these types of projects in the last 10 years, we may have dodged a bullet.

Well given the high density of Fibre in the vicinity and closeness to proposed offshore wind farms I imagine someone will pick up the site and build it as expected within the next 10 years.

Amazon for example are building two hyperscaler data centers in Drogheda to get around the developing 'Data Center power congestion' around the 'T-50' in Dublin

dubhthach · 28-06-2021 2:25pm

The IRIS cable from Iceland is planned to land in Galway in 2022:

https://www.galwaydaily.com/news/subsea-telecoms-cable-will-be-a-digital-bridge-connecting-galway-and-iceland/

This will probably result in further work been done in ensuring fully redundant cross-country high-bandwidth links coming into the county.

Apple Athenry data centre

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