Coal Out, Data Centers In: Ireland’s Power Strain

Connecting Ireland and Wales, the 190 km Greenlink interconnector was commissioned in late January 2025. Interconnectors are critical to the energy transition, as they allow the spikes in wind and solar generation to be shared across wider areas. With Greenlink, 11.5% of Ireland’s demand in February was supplied by Britain, whose energy mix comprised 56% renewable, nuclear, and storage. 

Developed by Partners Group, Greenlink was the first privately financed interconnector project in Europe. The interconnector was later purchased by Equitix and Baltic Cable in an estimated €1bn deal. The 504 MW interconnector is likely to have a capacity to power 380,000 homes. 

Projects like Greenlink are part of Ireland’s broader shift toward a more flexible and low-carbon electricity system. In June 2025, Ireland ended coal-fired power generation with the closure of Moneypoint power station’s coal operations, transitioning the plant to a limited backup role under emergency instructions from EirGrid until 2029- this marked Ireland as the sixth European country to eliminate coal from its electricity mix. Developed in the 1980s, Moneypoint power station is one of Ireland's largest energy generation stations; the station initiated its transition from fossil fuel generation in 2017 with a 17 MW onshore wind farm. With a deep-water port and other coal generation infrastructures, the site holds strong potential for offshore wind projects. 

Despite phasing out coal, gas remains the predominant source of electricity in Ireland. In July 2025, it accounted for 48.6% of the energy mix. Data centers represent a major share of the country’s electricity demand: in 2024, data centers consumed 22% of the country’s electricity, a share projected to rise to one-third by the end of the decade. Microsoft currently operates 17 data centers in Ireland and has been granted permission to build a 170MW gas power plant to support its Dublin data center, alongside 21 backup diesel generators. Amid mounting pressure on the grid, Irish grid operator EirGrid has paused new data center connections in the Dublin area until 2028 to safeguard system stability.