Local planners to decide on data centre and solar farm

A project that Westmeath County Council planners have been asked to decide on is believed to be the most expensive private development ever proposed for the Midlands – dwarfing even the massive cost (approximately €233m plus an approved €100m extension) of the Center Parcs holiday campus at Abbeyshrule.

On July 8, the firm Red Admiral DC Limited submitted its application to Westmeath County Council to build a large data centre, together with a massive solar farm, on a 600-acre (243ha) site between Tyrrellspass and Rochfortbridge.

Red Admiral DC Ltd, is a subsidiary of Tullamore-based Lumcloon Energy. Lumcloon Energy is also the developer of the Castlelost FlexGen Power Plant which is nearing completion on adjoining lands.

The costs are set to be enormous: RTÉ has described it as being a €1bn project; other sources are putting the cost at €500m.

According to the developers, once complete, the centre is expected to support 360–400 permanent jobs, and operations will 24/7 on a structured shift system.

Red Admiral had hoped that the project could have been submitted for approval directly to An Commisiún Pleanála as a Strategic Infrastructure Development (SID), but in May, the Commisiún ruled that it was not an SID, which is how Westmeath County Council has come to have responsibility for deciding on the project.

Two components

The documents submitted to the council describe a state-of-the-art data centre (DC) campus and the solar farm, an integrated Decentralised Energy Resource (DER) across approximately 243 hectares of mostly greenfield lands in Gneevebane, Oldtown, Farthingstown, Castlelost, and Kiltotan and Collinstown, Rochfortbridge. The DER is the solar farm element of the development.

At present, the lands are not in the ownership of Red Admiral, but are owned by a number of local people, as well as by Hanney Properties, which is owned by Nigel Reams, CEO of Lumcloon Energy Ltd; Westmeath County Council and Castlelost Flex Gen. The local landowners, who have consented to their lands being included in the application, are Liam and Sheila Gavin; Michael Peppard, John Peppard, Anne Peppard, Patrick Gavin, Barry Morgan and Orla Gallagher, Michael Fallon, Kieran Fallon John Flynn and Bryan Fallon.

The planning documents set out that the 39-hectare data centre campus is to feature six two-storey data halls, and a suite of adjacent clean energy installations designed to supply and manage the facility’s substantial electricity needs.

Each of the six buildings in the data centre will include high-performance server halls, mechanical and electrical plant rooms, and administrative areas.

Powering the data centre will be the adjoining DER, spread across more than 200 hectares. It consists of a 180MW solar photovoltaic (PV) farm and includes a 160MW solid oxide fuel cell system, and a 250MW battery energy storage system (BESS).

The intention is that all of those will be tied in to the nearby Castlelost GIS (Gas-Insulated Switchgear) station via a new grid connection.

In its application, Red Admiral says the DER is intended to reduce the reliance of the data centre on traditional fossil fuels by optimising power generation from renewable and low-carbon sources. The plan is that the solar farm will supply power during daylight hours, while the BESS and fuel cell systems will balance loads and provide backup support to ensure uninterrupted operation.

Jobs

While the company is predicting between 360 and 400 jobs for the data centre, there will be little employment at the DER site, as the solar farm, BESS, and fuel cell system will be remotely monitored “and require only minimal weekly site visits”. The construction phase of the development is expected to span just over five years (60–62 months), in three main phases.

Infrastructure growth

The application comes on foot of a number of energy infrastructure developments in the area: in 2021, Lumcloon Energy applied to the-then An Bord Pleanála for adjudication on whether a 220kV GIS substation it wished to build at Kiltotan and Collinstown, Rochfortbridge, was a strategic infrastructure development. An Bord Pleanála ruled that it was.

In March of 2022, Westmeath County Council granted permission for a major energy infrastructure project by Lumcloon Energy Ltd, at Kiltotan and Collinstown and Oldtown, Rochfortbridge – a 264-battery energy storage system (BESS), and later that year, An Bord Pleanála granted permission to Lumcloon Energy for a GIS electrical substation and two underground transmission cables.

The Bord noted that the purpose of the proposed development was to connect the BESS that had just been approved by the council to the national electricity transmission grid.

It is at that point that Castlelost Flex Gen enters the picture. Also a subsidiary of Lumcloon Energy, in separate applications, in February 2024 and in May 2024, it secured approval from Westmeath County Council for two sets of planning amendments to Lumcloon’s BESS permission.

In the first case, it received permission to relocate its administration and workshop buildings and make minor internal adjustments.

In April, further alterations were approved, including reconfigurations of pipework, storage tanks, and transformers and repositioning of emergency generators and other infrastructure.

Crossing point

Of significance to the likelihood of the data centre application gaining the approval of planners is the fact that the area is already a crossing point for key utilities.

Crucially, it has a major electricity transmission line – the 220kV Shannonbridge–Maynooth line, which loops in and out underground of the recently constructed Castlelost Gas Insulated Switchgear (GIS) substation; there is the gas transmission network to serve the Castlelost Flexgen Plant which is under construction and nearing completion and dark fibre broadband.