Echelon Arklow Campus
under construction CampusOperated by Echelon Data Centres
A 100 MW campus permitted by Wicklow County Council in February 2019 and upheld on appeal. EirGrid's September 2024 connection offer was the first to a large Irish data centre in over three years; construction of the first building began in 2025.
Land use jurisdiction: Wicklow County Council
Measurements on record
Power
| Critical IT load | 90 MW | source |
Permitting path
Approvals on record for 2 of 11 path steps; latest: Connection offer and agreement (2024-09-06).
Ireland's path runs grid-first: under the CRU's Large Energy Users Connection Policy (CRU/25/236, December 2025, replacing the 2021 data centre connection direction), a new connection offer requires dispatchable generation or storage matched to the facility's import capacity and a commitment to source at least 80 percent of annual demand from new Irish renewable generation within six years of energisation. Planning permission sits with the local authority in the first instance (the 2018 provision routing large data centres directly to the national planning body is not yet commenced), with appeals to An Coimisiun Pleanala, and environmental impact assessment where screening requires it. Uisce Eireann water and wastewater connections, building control certificates, and an EPA industrial emissions licence for standby fleets over 50 MW thermal complete the path.
| Date | Step | Authority | Instrument | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019-02-19 | Planning permission | An Coimisiún Pleanála | Wicklow County Council grant (February 2019); appeal dismissed by An Bord Pleanala
Wicklow County Council grant (February 2019); appeal dismissed by An Bord Pleanala |
on record |
| 2024-09-06 | Connection offer and agreement | EirGrid | EirGrid grid connection offer, Arklow campus
EirGrid grid connection offer, Arklow campus (original) |
on record |
| Grid connection application | not yet requested | |||
| Dispatchable generation or storage matched to import capacity applies for new connection applications under the 2025 policy |
not yet requested | |||
| Renewables matching commitment (80 percent in six years) applies for new connection applications under the 2025 policy |
not yet requested | |||
| Strategic infrastructure pre-application consultation applies where an associated Seventh Schedule class, such as large scale onsite generation, routes the application to An Coimisiun Pleanala; the data centre specific route is not yet commenced |
not yet requested | |||
| Environmental impact assessment applies where screening determines significant effects are likely |
Wicklow County Council | not yet requested | ||
| Uisce Eireann wastewater connection | not yet requested | |||
| Uisce Eireann water connection agreement | not yet requested | |||
| Building control (commencement notice; fire safety and disability access certificates) | Wicklow County Council | not yet requested | ||
| EPA industrial emissions licence applies where standby generation crosses licensing thresholds |
Environmental Protection Agency | Crag Arklow Limited IE licence application
Crag Arklow Limited IE licence application (original) |
pending |
Steps without a record are shown as not yet requested or not on record: absence of a record here is a records gap, not a finding about the facility. An authority shown for an empty step is the body that would issue it.
About this path and the law behind each step: law.ungovr.org/compute/ie
Location and sources
Arklow, Wicklow County Council, Ireland
Sources: RTE: Permission granted for Arklow data centre · Irish Times: Echelon secures grid connection for Wicklow data centre · EPA: Crag Arklow Limited licence application
Every record links to its source: openly licensed datasets (Epoch AI, CC BY; Wikidata, CC0; US EPA, public domain) and public permit records. Full sourcing and licensing: methodology · sources.