The daily peak power demand from data centres hit 1,000 MW in June, reaching the operational safety threshold beyond which a sudden drop in demand risks triggering a system blackout.  The breach of the threshold, confirmed in documents released under freedom of information, comes amid growing concerns about the industry’s strain on the electricity grid and its capacity to react when data centre demand suddenly drops off the system.  EirGrid must delicately balance supply from power plants and demand from homes, businesses, and big energy users such as data centres which now account for 23 per cent of all electricity…

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