Apple sinks swimming pool plan for Galway HQ in Athenry

Technology giant Apple has ruled out proposals for an Olympic-sized swimming pool to be powered by the ‘waste’ heat from its new Galway data centre to be built in Athenry.

The company has said it does not have any plans “at present” to recover waste heat.

The suggestion for the 50-metre pool and aquatic centre was put to the company earlier this month by Senator Fidelma Healy Eames.

The plan involved waste heat generated from a single data ‘hall’ being recovered and used to heat the pool – saving between €200,000 and €400,000 annually.

However, Apple has responded to say that while waste heat will be recovered from their proposed data centre in Denmark, the same infrastructure does not exist in Galway.

Apple’s Vice President for European Operations, Cathy Kearney, told Senator Healy Eames:

“We are planning to recover waste heat and export it to the community Combined Heat and Power (CHP) system in Viborg in Denmark.

“However, unlike in Galway, that infrastructure currently exists and has already been funded by the Viborg community.

“Due to this lack of such infrastructure in the area, we do not have any plans at present to leverage use of the heat generated by the facility,” said Ms Kearney.

Senator Healy Eames called on Apple to ‘tease out’ the proposals during talks which the company will be having with the local community in the coming weeks.

See full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune.