The Ireland Portugal Business Network recently announced the 6th edition of its annual flagship Sustainability Conference, set to take place at Martinhal Lisbon Oriente on Tuesday, March 18, from 9h to 13h

Following the first panel discussion on Community Development and Urban Planning, and the second panel discussion on the Vertical Farming Revolution and Farming Sustainability, the third and final panel will take the stage. This conversation will focus on Sustainable AI-Scale Data Centres with Innovative Cooling and 100% Renewable Energy. It will feature sector experts including India Branquinho de Oliveira, Declan Wynne, and Kayleigh Ann Myles as they each share their valuable expertise on this hot-button topic.

India Branquinho de Oliveira is the Sustainability Manager at Start Campus, which is responsible for developing the SINES DC project, a 1.2GW data center campus in Portugal, creating Europe’s largest and most sustainable data ecosystem with market-leading global connectivity. The project is slated to be completed in the early 2030s while demand continues to grow for AI learning, training, and inference sites given the power needed to succeed, and the cooling created that keeps things sustainable.

With a roadmap to net zero by 2030, Start Campus is comfortably on track, looking at the whole supply chain and focusing on net zero targeted suppliers. Omer Wilson, Chief Marketing Officer of Start Campus explained to Datacentre Solutions Magazine what Start Campus is doing for the local Portuguese community, how it is focusing on sustainability and 100% renewable energy, the differentiators of this particular data centre, and what makes this project special. “The uniqueness is our AI Scale build. Both from the power side and the cooling technologies, and the liquid cooling flexibility that we put into our design. It’s very much a sweet spot for those kinds of workloads that are the focus of most large tech companies,” according to Omer.

Declan Wynne is the Managing Director at Skanstec Engineering, an IPBN Executive Partner and EY Entrepreneur of the Year Finalist 2023. Skanstec is a specialist engineering company in the Energy and Telecommunications sectors, providing end-to-end solutions for power grids and communication networks. It designs, builds, and commissions critical infrastructure, managing the full project lifecycle.

For high-demand energy users like data centers and manufacturing facilities, Skanstec delivers power from the grid to the point of use. For renewable energy developers, it facilitates grid connections for solar and wind power. In telecommunications, the company integrates fibre and 5G technology for global clients.

Operating across Europe, Skanstec’s experienced engineering team ensures efficient project delivery, minimizing risks and costs through stakeholder management, scheduling, and value engineering. Its expertise spans turnkey projects, substations, grid connections, power generation, temporary power, and fixed and mobile networks, including maintenance and asset management.

Kayleigh Ann Myles is the ESG & Sustainability Lead at Lawler Sustainability, winner of this year's IPBN Business Success Award. Lawler operates in Ireland and Portugal, delivering innovative ESG strategies, carbon reduction roadmaps, lifecycle assessments, and sustainability certifications (LEED, BREEAM). The company’s unique partnership with Lawler Consulting integrates M&E engineering with sustainability consultancy, ensuring impactful solutions.

In 2024, the company expanded into Portugal, reinforcing their commitment to tackling climate change through cross-border collaboration. The company won Consultancy of the Year at the All-Ireland Sustainability Awards 2024 while Kayleigh-Ann Myles was chosen as a Rising Star finalist at the PWC & Business Post Awards.

As a nonprofit organization, the IPBN could not organize such an exciting conference without the support of our Executive Partners, our members, our sponsor IPBN members GEOPALM and Pine Hill International and the offical partner of the conference, Chitra Stern, Entrepreneur & Founder of the Martinhal Resorts and the United Lisbon International School.

This highly anticipated event marks a celebration of St. Patrick’s Day and will feature distinguished guests, including Alma Ní Choigligh, Ambassador of Ireland to Portugal, and a Minister of the Irish Government as our keynote speakers, so don’t forget to register here!