Construction of the new data storage is expected to create 500 jobs during construction and 275 jobs during operation.

Despite calls from environmental groups to halt the project, Engineinode, an Irish data center company, has been given permission to build a data storage facility in Clone, County Meath.

The project, located near Facebook’s clone data center, has met with backlash from environmentalists and locals.

The engine node was founded in 2018 by former Air employees Jason O’Connell and Ronan Knafsi. O’Connell was responsible for the data centers, and Knafsi was the general manager of the telecommunications and data centers in Irle.

The company applied in November 2019 for a 10-year building permit to develop a data storage facility on 60 acres of land in the clone.

The campus will include four four-story data storage buildings, a two-story office building, and a storage facility. Construction is expected to create 500 jobs and 275 working hours, The Irish Times reports.

Impact of Irish Data Centers

Ireland is one of the most popular destinations in the world for data centers. Last year, Tick Tock teamed up with tech giants such as Google, AWS and Microsoft to choose their data hub country.

However, although data centers provide vital infrastructure to our Internet-dependent community, they use a large amount of energy.

Last year, environmental groups Ann Ties and Friends of the Irish Environment (FIE) filed an appeal against Meath County Council’s preliminary approval.

She said Ireland already hosts a number of data centers in Western Europe and the additional infrastructure will put pressure on the national network.

At the time, 10 data centers were under construction in Ireland, which would add 202 megawatts to the network, and 31 people with building permits would add 629 megawatts, according to FIE.

Data centers will put more pressure on Ireland’s power supply and will increase demand by 29% by 2028, according to a report by grid operator Ergrid.

However, senior planning inspector Carla McBride said that despite the engine node project’s demand for energy, they are satisfied that the problem will eventually be resolved as Ireland moves toward 70% of its energy supply, according to Renewable Energy sources by 2030.

Clone becomes the center of attention

The clone also has a $ 300 million Facebook data center, which the tech giant says is 100% recyclable.

It worked with Brookfield Renewables to operate not only the site’s three data centers, but also its international headquarters in Dublin and wind assets in Ireland.

The clone site, which opened for the first time in 2018, has more than 300 Facebook employees and will double in size next year. Last year, the expansion had to be halted following the eruption of Kovid-19.

Last year, Facebook had a minor battle with the engine. According to an article in the Sunday Business Post, the social media giant claimed that he tried to build the engine node on his land without permission.

The engine node also disagreed with the County Meat Council’s request that the company pay $ 1.85 million for the new road before work on the project began.

The engine node is required to pay the council a special contribution to the new $ 12.8 million Braceton own link road.

Its construction was opposed by some locals as the scope and size of the development would adversely affect the topography of the area.

However, senior planning inspector Carla McBride said the proposed data center would not significantly affect homes or commercial buildings in the area.