A new report reveals that 23 percent of total electricity consumption in Ireland is attributed to data centers.
New figures from the Irish Central Statistics Office (CSO) show that 23 percent of the country’s electricity consumption goes to data centers, compared to five percent in 2015. “During this period, data center consumption has risen significantly, from 291 GWh in the first quarter of 2015 to 1,991 GWh in the fourth quarter of 2025, an increase of 584 percent,” said Dr. Grzegorz Głaczyński, Statistician in the Climate and Energy division.
Ireland
“Electricity consumption by data centers in Ireland increased by ten percent in 2025 compared to 2024,” said Głaczyński. By comparison, consumption by other users, such as households and other business customers, increased by barely two percent during the same period. Irish data centers therefore consume more electricity than households, which stood at eighteen percent in 2015; for rural households, electricity consumption was nine percent.
Furthermore, Ireland leads the way in Europe in this regard. The Benelux region sits between five and ten percent of total electricity production, while there is still plenty of room for growth in the data center market within the Iberian Peninsula. There, all facilities consume 2.8 TWh, which is one percent of total electricity production, as we discovered during our visit last year to a Portuguese data center.
Energy guzzlers
By now, we know that data centers devour energy. For instance, Microsoft recently announced in its 2026 sustainability report that emissions from its data centers have increased by 25 percent.
Nevertheless, solutions such as sea cooling or liquid cooling are being actively explored. Currently, a bill is on the table to relax the regulations surrounding data centers. This should make it easier to offset data center emissions.