The decisions made by Apple and Facebook to establish their data centres here is seen by Kenneth Matthews, CEO of the Irish Wind Energy Association (IWEA), as a vital means of making Ireland’s 2020 energy targets.
If there’s one thing that’s certain about Ireland’s attempts to make the 2020 energy targets that the Government has signed up to, it’s that on-shore wind energy is largely seen as our best hope of achieving it.
This is further supported by announcements from two of the largest tech companies in the world – Apple and Facebook – who have decided to set up data centres here. Crucially, both companies have promised that they will power these centres entirely with renewable energy, specifically using on-shore wind energy.
Speaking with Siliconrepublic.com, IWEA CEO Kenneth Matthews says that, while this increased production of wind energy by ICT companies can only be beneficial to Ireland for a number of reasons, we still face enormous challenges of meeting our target by 2020.
Words by Colm Gorey
