How does Pure DC's Dublin microgrid bypass the Irish grid queue?: Pure DC's 110 MW Dublin microgrid operates behind-the-meter, generating its own power onsite rather than drawing from the National Grid, so it does not require an EirGrid connection slot.Source: Lowdown data-centres briefing
What is Ireland's CRU rule on data centre renewables?: CRU2025236, issued December 2025, requires new grid-connected data centres to source 80% of their annual electricity demand from additional Irish-sited renewables within six years of energisation.Source: CRU2025236
Why is the Irish grid queue so long for data centres?: Ireland's electricity network faces unprecedented demand from data centres concentrated around Dublin, pushing EirGrid's connection queue to multi-year wait times and prompting the CRU's stricter renewables conditions.Source: Lowdown data-centres briefing
Where is Cobalt Park data centre?: Cobalt Park is a technology campus in North Tyneside, north-east England. Pure DC has a presence there alongside OpenAI's since-paused Stargate UK site and Nscale's ongoing AI Growth Zone development.Source: Lowdown data-centres briefing
What is Pure DC's 110 MW Dublin microgrid and how does it work?: Pure DC commissioned Europe's first 110 MW data-centre microgrid in Dublin in March 2026, with AVK as engineering partner. It uses gas generation with biomethane and HVO switching capability. By generating power on-site and staying off EirGrid's regulated network, the facility bypasses both the grid-connection queue and the CRU 80% renewables obligation.Source: data-centres updates 1 and 2
How did Pure DC's Dublin project bypass Ireland's CRU renewables rule?: CRU's rule (CRU2025236) applies to grid-connected data centres and requires 80% of annual demand from additional Irish-sited renewables within six years. Pure DC's behind-the-meter microgrid is off the regulated network, so the renewables obligation does not apply. Instead, it meets the separate on-site dispatchable generation requirement.Source: CRU / data-centres update 2
Is Pure DC's microgrid model being copied by other European data centre operators?: The model is being watched across Europe. CRU formally confirmed it as the working compliance template in April 2026. With EirGrid blocking new grid connections in Dublin, behind-the-meter generation is the only viable route for new capacity in the Dublin market, creating strong commercial incentive for replication.Source: data-centres update 2
What is Cobalt Park and what is Pure DC's role there?: Cobalt Park is an AI Growth Zone in North Tyneside, UK, that includes data-centre developments by Pure DC, Blackstone, and Nscale. OpenAI paused its separate Stargate Cobalt Park site in April 2026 citing energy costs and regulatory conditions; Pure DC's component continues.Source: data-centres update 1

Background

Pure DC commissioned Europe's first 110 MW data-centre microgrid in Dublin in March 2026, with AVK as engineering partner. The project generates power on-site using gas generation with biomethane and hydrotreated vegetable oil switching capability, and was confirmed in April 2026 as the working template for compliance with CRU2025236 — the CRU's December 2025 rule requiring new data centres to demonstrate on-site dispatchable generation. The microgrid explicitly bypasses EirGrid's grid-connection queue: by staying off the regulated transmission network, the facility avoids both the queue and the CRU's additional requirement for 80% Irish renewable sourcing within six years of energisation.

Pure DC operates in markets where grid access is the primary bottleneck. The company has a presence in the UK through a site at Cobalt Park in North Tyneside — an AI Growth Zone development that also includes Blackstone and Nscale projects. OpenAI paused its own Cobalt Park Stargate site in April 2026, citing unfavourable regulatory conditions and energy costs; the Pure DC and other Cobalt Park components continue.

Pure DC's microgrid model has become commercially significant beyond Dublin: with EirGrid's informal moratorium blocking new grid-connected large-load connections, the behind-the-meter route is the only viable pathway for new data-centre capacity in the Dublin market. It has attracted attention from operators across Europe facing similar grid-queue pressure in constrained markets. The key regulatory question is whether CRU's on-site generation template — validated by Pure DC — will be adopted by operators in other jurisdictions or whether it remains specific to Ireland's regulatory environment.

Source Material

CRU2025236 — Data Centre Connection Policy Pure DC official site

How the World Sees Them

Ireland

CRU's renewables mandate is designed to limit grid stress from data centre load. Pure DC's microgrid architecture sidesteps that constraint while meeting the on-site generation requirement, establishing a compliance route the regulator has endorsed.

European Union

Behind-the-meter data-centre generation that bypasses regulated networks raises questions about energy market design; if widespread, it reduces throughput on the regulated grid and changes the economics of transmission investment.

Data centre industry

The microgrid model is watched as a replicable template for operators frozen out of European grid queues. If it scales, it fragments the regulated grid market — operators build their own generation rather than queuing for transmission access.