IRELAND DATA CENTER GRID COMPLIANCE: HOW TO PREPARE FOR MPID345 REQUIREMENTS

Feature article

1970-01-01

PREPARING DATA CENTERS FOR A NEW GRID ERA

Ireland’s data-center grid requirements have taken a decisive step. The <a href="https://www.cru.ie/publications/29222/">Commission for Regulation of Utilities</a> has approved MPID345, effective 27th October 2026. This means large energy users, including data centers, must remain connected during grid disturbances, rapidly restore power demand following fault events and support overall grid resilience. ABB’s new whitepaper provides practical insights into how data centers can prepare for this transition through a new approach that combines ultracapacitor energy storage, grid-forming power conversion and intelligent real-time power orchestration. Ireland may be among the first countries introducing these types of requirements for large demand facilities, but the underlying challenge is global. As data center demand grows and electricity systems evolve, regulators and grid operators around the world are exploring new ways to strengthen reliability, improve resilience and support sustainable digital infrastructure growth.

WHAT IS MPID345 AND HOW WILL IT IMPACT IRELAND'S DATA CENTERS?

Data centers and technology-related loads accounted for approximately 24% of Ireland's electricity demand in 2024, with that figure expected to increase in the coming years. At the same time, greater renewable energy penetration is changing the operating characteristics of the electricity network. These trends are creating new challenges for grid stability, particularly during fault conditions where large demand facilities can influence system behavior.  MPID345 is EirGrid's grid code modification designed to address the challenges associated with large demand facilities, including data centers. Facilities are required to remain connected during grid disturbances, rapidly recover demand following fault events and withstand significant frequency excursions without disconnecting. This represents a fundamental shift in expectations for large energy users. Historically, data centers were designed to protect operations from grid events. Under future requirements, they may also need to actively support the stability of the power system during those events.

THE GROWING CHALLENGE: DATA CENTER DEMAND, AI GROWTH AND GRID STABILITY

The rapid growth of AI, cloud computing and digital services is driving unprecedented demand for data center capacity and electricity consumption. This challenge extends beyond Ireland. Around the world, regulators and grid operators are exploring new approaches to ensure digital infrastructure growth can be supported without compromising grid reliability and resilience. As power systems become more dynamic, the relationship between data centers and the grid is changing. Facilities are increasingly expected not only to consume electricity, but also to contribute to the stability of the systems that support them.

HOW CAN DATA CENTERS COMPLY WITH MPID345?

One of the key findings of this whitepaper is that MPID345 compliance is not primarily an energy capacity challenge. It is a sub-second power orchestration challenge.   To achieve compliance, operators may need to coordinate: <ul> <li>Fault Ride Through (FRT): Requires facilities to remain connected during transmission system voltage disturbances rather than disconnecting from the grid.</li> <li>Active Power Recovery (APR): Requires large demand facilities to restore demand rapidly following voltage recovery. Under MPID345, this could require recovery of at least 90% of pre-fault demand within 500 milliseconds.</li> <li>Rate of Change of Frequency (RoCoF) robustness: Requires facilities to withstand rapid frequency changes without disconnecting, supporting overall system resilience during grid events.</li> <li>Voltage support</li> <li>Frequency support</li> <li>Critical and non-critical load management</li> <li>Real-time power control and orchestration.</li> </ul> The whitepaper explains how these requirements can be met through a coordinated control architecture that responds in milliseconds rather than seconds.

ABB'S SOLUTION: ULTRACAPACITOR ENERGY STORAGE FOR DATA CENTER GRID COMPLIANCE

The whitepaper introduces ABB's proposed dynamic compliance architecture, a modular behind-the-meter grid support platform built around ultracapacitor energy storage (UCAPS ESS).   The solution combines:

Ultracapacitor energy storage

Grid-forming power conversion

Synthetic inertia

Reactive voltage support

Fast active power injection

Intelligent digital orchestration.

Together, these technologies enable data centers to support grid stability, recover demand quickly following disturbances and meet potential future compliance requirements without fundamentally redesigning existing infrastructure.

HOW ULTRACAPACITORS HELP DATA CENTERS SUPPORT GRID STABILITY IN MILLISECONDS

Unlike conventional energy storage technologies designed primarily for long-duration applications, ultracapacitors are optimized for high-power, fast-response events. Ultracapacitor energy storage can deliver rapid charge and discharge cycles with minimal degradation, making it particularly well suited for repeated sub-second grid support events. This enables:

Fast active power support , Dynamic voltage regulation , Synthetic inertia , Repeated cycling with minimal performance impact , Sub-second response to grid disturbances.

All while maintaining operational continuity and supporting future compliance objectives.

READ THE MPID345 DATA CENTER COMPLIANCE WHITEPAPER

Discover: <ul> <li>What MPID345 means for data center operators</li> <li>How Fault Ride Through (FRT), Active Power Recovery (APR) and RoCoF requirements work</li> <li>Why conventional electrical architectures may struggle to meet future requirements</li> <li>How ABB's ultracapacitor energy storage solution supports rapid grid response</li> <li>Strategies for both brownfield and greenfield data center deployments</li> </ul>