Ireland looks set to progress more than 10 centralised heat networks providing affordable heating and hot water to potentially hundreds of thousands of householders and public buildings across the country.
The district heating developers have applied for Government support to progress projects in urban areas by availing of excess heat from facilities such as industry, data centres and waste-to-energy plants.
District heating systems are long established in many EU countries, but are at the early stage of development in Ireland.
What are in effect signals of intent have emerged following a scheme, backed by an allocation of €5 million, to support pre-construction costs launched last week by Minister for Energy Darragh O’Brien.
READ MORE
It is expected more developers and “project sponsors” will apply to progress development of heating systems before a deadline in mid-December.
On top of pre-development support, Mr O’Brien committed on Wednesday to funding of up to €100 million for district heating under the National Development Plan.
A number of schemes will be located in Dublin, including one in Blanchardstown. An already-established district heating system in Tallaght run by Codema in partnership with South Dublin County Council is set to move to second phase and provide renewable heat for Tallaght University Hospital. It uses excess heat from an Amazon Web Services data centre in the area.
A district heating system is planned for the Ringsend area of Dublin linked to the large Covanta incinerator.
A proposed scheme in Galway has moved to planning stage, while feasibility studies are being completed in Naas, Co Kildare, and in Louth.
Hot water is piped through insulated underground networks to homes and businesses, replacing the need for individual heating systems. Studies show that 50 per cent to 60 per cent of buildings in Ireland are suitable for district heating.
There is “a renewed sense of optimism that large-scale projects can finally get off the ground”, said Pauline O’Reilly, chief executive of the Irish District Energy Association (IrDEA), the industry’s national representative body.
“Across the country, our members have been actively developing projects with anchor customers such as hospitals, universities and other public sector buildings. This funding will enable those projects to move to more advanced stages of planning and investment readiness,” she said.
At its annual conference on Thursday, IrDEA examined Irish projects already under development and explored potential benefits for customers located within future supply networks.
The move to decarbonised heat was important in the Irish context, given 94 per cent of the State’s heat comes from fossil fuels, Ms O’Reilly said.
“District heating is used across Europe and is the fastest way to provide heating from renewable and waste heat. In electricity Ireland has become a world leader in renewable power. It is now primed to do the same in renewable heat.”
The European Investment Bank said last month it would provide technical and financial advisory support “to help Ireland develop district heating systems that will reduce energy costs, cut [carbon] emissions and strengthen local economies”.
Geothermal energy, which emanates from shallow depths and deep into Earth’s surface, also provides a renewable, secure, local and consistent source of heat in a similar way to district heating – and uses the same type of infrastructure.
In July 2023, Eamon Ryan, then minister for energy, published a policy statement on geothermal energy. On foot of that, legislation to avail of this energy source, which can also be used to generate electricity, is expected to be adopted by the Government next year.
