Ireland’s digital transformation strategy is gaining momentum as a consortium of South Korean companies partners with Irish renewable energy developer Rumcloon Energy to deploy a 1 MW modular data centre (MDC) demonstration.

The initiative introduces a compact, AI-ready MDC model designed to address Ireland’s power-grid constraints and tightening energy-efficiency regulations.

Day Turbine, IA Cloud, IDB and CarbonSaurus — supported by South Korea’s NIPA — will test an “eco-friendly artificial intelligence data centre package” combining immersion cooling, automated operations and carbon-tracking tools. The PoC forms part of Rumcloon Energy’s plan to convert 50 MW of its upcoming 250 MW Westmeath data-centre campus into modular infrastructure.

Each MDC is built into a 40-foot container integrating high-density AI servers, immersion cooling, power-management systems and automated operations. Day Turbine’s “SmartBox” immersion cooling system aims to achieve below 1.1 PUE by submerging servers in non-conductive cooling oil. IA Cloud provides the operational automation platform, while IDB and CarbonSaurus deliver anomaly detection and ESG-aligned carbon analytics.

Ireland remains Europe’s largest data-centre hub, with facilities consuming 21 percent of national electricity in 2023. New rules requiring renewable-energy linkage, advanced cooling and carbon-reduction capabilities are limiting traditional builds. The Korean MDC will be used to verify whether a modular approach can meet these standards at scale.

“This project will be a test to prove power efficiency, cooling performance, and operational stability in the European environment,” said IA Cloud managing director Shin Yoon-soo.

The European data-centre market is projected to grow from $53.8 billion (€46.27bn) in 2024 to $130.1 billion (€111.86bn) by 2033, according to IMARC.

Explore the full article to examine how this partnership may influence Ireland’s next wave of digital infrastructure expansion.