Up to 250 jobs are expected to be created in Arklow in the coming years with the development of a joint initiative between green energy company SSE Renewables and Irish-owned data centre owner and operator, Echelon Data Centres.
They have agreed to develop a joint 220kV substation at the Avoca River Business Park in the Co Wicklow town.
The new infrastructure will facilitate the development of what is said to be Ireland's first large-scale offshore wind farm, off the Wicklow coast, with an export capacity of 520MW.
It will also power Echelon's existing 100MW data centre in Arklow.
The joint collaboration is understood to be the first time in Ireland that an offshore wind farm and a data centre have agreed to develop grid infrastructure.
The substation development is expected to require an investment of around €50m.
Upon completion, the proposed offshore wind farm and data centre will both directly connect to the Irish national grid via the new shared substation.
The project backers say the job creation will include up to 80 new jobs during the construction of the substation.
Upon completion of the projects, the data centre will support 90 full-time operational roles while a further 80 full-time jobs will be created locally to support the day-to-day operation of the offshore wind farm.
"This announcement is a welcome boost for Arklow. it not only provides new job opportunities, it also places Arklow at the heart of the green tech sector," Taoiseach Micheál Martin said.
"This collaboration between renewable energy and tech will ensure that key decarbonisation targets contained in the Climate Action Plan are met and is a model which could be rolled out in other communities across the country," Mr Martin added.
