October 2023 EMEA Data Centre Update

BALLYCOOLIN

Colo Hyperscale Cloud Telco

CLONSHAUGH

EMEA POWERHOUSE MARKET OVERVIEW

KEY INDICATORS*

15 OPERATORS, 40 DATA CENTRES

738MW IN OPERATION

270MW UC / 576MW PLANNED

2% VACANCY RATE

CLONDALKIN

* Definition: Key indicators are based on operational Hyperscale Cloud, Colo, Edge & Telco data centre facilities in the market and excludes Captive & ICT.

MARKET OVERVIEW

According to EirGrid, the national utility provider, data centres accounted for almost a fifth of all electricity consumed in Ireland during 2022. EirGrid has also projected power consumption by data centres to increase by 9TWh by 2030, accounting for 23% to 31% of total grid supply. This comes at a time when the government is working to reduce the national emissions by 80% by increasing the share of renewable energy. It also seeks to enhance its efforts to decarbonise by moving heating and transportation to electricity, which will further increasing the load on the power grid. Dublin is one of the prominent data centre markets in Europe. However, development of new data centres has become challenging owing to EirGrid’s stance against augmenting power capacity at least until 2028. Moreover, the de facto moratorium on data centre projects levied in Jan 2022 remains in force. Therefore, applications of several operators for new data centre development in recent times have been rejected by local councils, citing energy usage and impact on the environment issues. Owing to restrained supply pipeline, the Dublin market continues to witness low vacancy rate of 2%. While 846MW capacity is in the development pipeline, construction timelines of these data centres is questionable owing to challenges to obtain approvals and power to bring them online. With mounting demand, public and private entities are actively working to alleviate the strain on the Dublin power grid. This includes efforts by the Irish government to establish and auction new renewable energy sources, as well as exploring alternatives like hydrogen fuel cells for individual data centres. Hyperscalers and colocation providers have purchased a substantial number of generators of various fuel types to augment and ensure sufficient power including hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) for generators. Local councils have had varied responses to the utilization of these generators and have tightened regulatory frameworks on this side as well. Looking ahead, the future growth of the Irish data centre market may largely depend on the speed at which robust, sustainable energy sources become available to the wider population, while improvements to the overall infrastructure appears essential.

ECOSYSTEM DEVELOPMENTS • Despite power concerns, AWS has gained approval for three data centres in Dublin totaling 42,000 sqm. Once complete, the buildings would double the campus’ power capacity. The recent hyperscale activity is an encouraging sign for Dublin after substantial power grid limitations have in-part restricted data centre development. As one of the largest generator consumers in Ireland, AWS has begun to transition its backup generators to utilize biofuel. • Microsoft is planning a new campus in Naas, approximately 30km Southwest of Dublin. Details of the facility are not yet known; however, Microsoft has stated its preference for a 100% renewable power solution for the campus. • TikTok parent company, ByteDance , has brought its Dublin data centre online. The facility was initially announced in 2020 and is expected to reach full build out in late 2024. ByteDance has begun transferring European data to the centre as questions over the company's data privacy loom. The building is the company's first data centre in Europe. • CyrusOne is planning a new data centre in Dublin, located at the Grange Castle Business Park, the facility will consist of two buildings totalling 35,000 sqm. The facility is expected to be complete in 2024 but has been delayed previously due to lack of grid capacity in the area and a changed policy by EirGrid, a state-owned electric power transmission operator. • Servecentric is expanding its service line after generating 300% in revenue growth from 2021. The company has rolled out a new PaaS offering alongside scalable data computer resources and storage to compliment its existing services. Servecentric is also planning on building its own data centre on just under 2 acres of land in Ballycoolin. It's estimated the facility would offer around 8.5MW of capacity. • Bord Na Mona is nearing a deal to develop 7,000 acres for energy development toward Rochfortbridge colo projects. • In September, Principal Asset Management purchased two data centres from an undisclosed seller. Combined the facilities make up 7,500 sqm and are fully leased to Vodafone and Verizon.