Electricity use by data centres increased by 10% between 2023 and 2024, according to the latest figures from the Central Statistics Office.
According to the CSO, last year, data centres accounted for over a fifth (22%) of all metered electricity consumed in Ireland, at 6,969 Gigawatt hours (GWh).
Almost a decade earlier, data centres consumed just 5% of metered electricity in 2015.
On a quarterly basis, the level of power used by data centres jumped by 531% between the start of 2015 and the end of 2024, according to the statistics, from 290 GWh in the first quarter of 2015 to 1,829 GWh in the fourth quarter of 2024.
The CSO figures also showed that outside of data centres, electricity consumption by "all other users" - which includes residential and other business customers - increased by 3% last year.
In 2024, urban households accounted for 18% and rural households for 10% of total metered electricity consumption.
Overall, since 2015, total metered electricity consumption rose by 30%.
Dr Grzegorz Głaczyński, Statistician in the CSO's Climate and Energy Division, said: "Newly released data tracks metered electricity consumption by data centres on a quarterly basis from 2015 to 2024.
"Over this period, data centre consumption saw a significant rise, from 290 GWh in the first quarter of 2015 to 1,829 GWh in the final quarter of 2024.
He noted that data centres’ share of total metered electricity consumption grew substantially from 5% in 2015 to 22% in 2024.
"In contrast, 2024 saw urban households account for 18% and rural households for 10% of the total," he said.
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