Ireland is set to have a shortage of electricity for the next five winters, according to a new report.
EirGrid says this winter will be 'challenging' - and there could be major outages between now and 2026.
The company says it's due to a rise in demand for electricity.
While there’s also the fact that older power plants have been closed.
Former Environment Minister, Denis Naughten, fears power blackouts over the coming months.
”If we have a very cold winter then I think that prediction could very well come to light this winter.”
”But the likelihood is it'll come to light at some stage over the next couple of years.”
”That's why it was critically important to have a structured wind down of our fossil fuel plants over a number of years.”
”As we ramped up renewable energy .”
Social Democrats Wants Temporary Data Centre Ban
Meanwhile, the Dáil will this morning debate a motion calling for a moratorium on new data centres.
They currently use about 10% of the country's electricity output.
And it's claimed that could rise to 70% by 2030.
However that’s if all planning permissions for new centres go ahead.
The Social Democrats is bringing forward today's motion.
Co-leader, Roisin Shortall, explains why:
”A big part of attracting foreign direct investment into the country is to be able to guarantee a reliable supply of energy.”
”If we're in a situation where our data centres are using so much energy, the likelihood is that we're going to have breaks and blackouts in our energy supply.”
”That's going to damage the prospect of other companies coming and re-locating here in Ireland.”
