Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 12 May 2026
286. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment the levels of fines or other compliance measures he is considering for the failure of data centres to comply with articles 11 and 12 of the Energy Efficiency Directive. [35308/26]
View answerThe Recast Energy Efficiency Directive (EU 2023/1791) (EED) is a wide-ranging European directive which seeks to enhance energy efficiency across all EU Member States and forms a key part of the EU’s Fit for 55 Package. The Recast EED replaces the 2012 EED, as amended in 2018, which Ireland has previously fully transposed and fully implemented.
Article 11 of the EED introduces mandatory energy management systems for large energy consuming enterprises, meaning enterprises that have an annual energy use greater than 85 TJ. It also introduces energy audits for enterprises which have an annual energy use of greater than 10 TJ. The purpose of these measures is to support the identification and implementation of cost-effective energy efficiency improvements and reductions in energy consumption. Article 11 of the Energy Efficiency Directive (EU 2023/1791) is being transposed via statutory instrument and is close to being finalised.
Article 12 of the EED provides an obligation for Member States to require that owners and operators of data centres with an installed information technology power demand of at least 500kW to monitor and make publicly available information, subject to Union and national law protecting trade and business secrets and confidentiality, on the energy performance of their data centres.
Article 12 of the EED is supplemented by the directly effective delegated Regulation 2024/1364 that requires the same in-scope data centres, as under Article 12, to make public and report annually key performance indicators on their energy and sustainability to a European database on data centres established by the European Commission. This information is to help establish a common Union wide scheme to measure and rate the energy performance and sustainability of data centres, work on which the Commission has advanced. My Department is the Member State coordinator overseeing reporting by data centres operating in Ireland currently. Data centres in Ireland are already reporting this information to this confidential EU database for all reporting cycles.
The drafting of the relevant legislation in respect to the transposition of Article 12 is at an advanced stage and my Department is keeping key stakeholders and the Commission updated.
Enforcement provisions and penalties for the non-compliance are being considered in line with the State’s existing legislative framework in the transposition of these articles. This is in line with previous provisions under the 2012 and 2018 EED.
