Text from Euroheat & Power media release, view original here

We are delighted to welcome IrDEA as a new member of Euroheat & Power!

The Irish District Energy Association (IrDEA) is Ireland’s only membership organisation dedicated to promoting and supporting the roll-out of District Heating and Cooling (DHC) from sustainable, low carbon, renewable energy sources.

IrDEA was established in 2017 as a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee (CLG), and has members from across the public, private and academic sectors. We are the only trade organisation representing the district heating and cooling (DHC) sector in Ireland.

Acting on behalf of our members, we support and promote the growth of the DHC industry, creating a new heating market for Ireland, which offers greater opportunities to utilise indigenous low-carbon and renewable sources of heat.

IrDEA is the go-to place to find expertise and information on DHC in Ireland. Our members include leading actors in the district heating sector in Ireland, whose background ranges from practical experience of DHC design and operation, to international research and in-depth knowledge of policy and the barriers affecting district heating implementation in Ireland.

• View full Plumbing & Heating Magazine (Issue 112, Mar-Apr, 2023)
• Download article PDF (page0047.pdf)
• Download full edition PDF (Ireland's Plumbing and Heating Magazine Issue 112 Mar to Apr.pdf)

With thermal energy storage offering significant potential to underpin the delivery of district energy in Ireland, IrDEA took the opportunity of the government consultation on Developing an Electricity Storage Policy Framework for Ireland, which closed on 27 January 2023

At approx. 60 TWh per annum, heat makes up 42% of final energy demand in a typical year for Ireland (SEAI 2019). Decarbonisation in the sector has, however, lagged behind electricity, with total fossil fuel based CO2 emissions from building and industrial process heating remaining around 14.1 MtCO2. This equates to approx. 38% of total energy-related CO2 and 24% of total national greenhouse gas emissions – natural gas (39%), oil (36%), and coal and peat (25%) (SEAI 2019). Significant action must be taken to address this if Ireland’s net zero emissions ambitions are to be realised.

The Irish District Energy Association (IrDEA) aims to help address this problem by driving the development of the Irish district energy sector. Though relatively new and underdeveloped in Ireland, district heating is well-established as means of providing sustainable heating solutions to industrial, commercial and residential energy consumers. With between 54% (SEAI) and 58% (Europa-Universitat Flensburg 2019) of Irish building identified as being suitable for district energy, this form of heating is primed to lead the decarbonisation of the sector. Energy storage, particularly largescale thermal energy storage systems (TES), is an integral part of this.

IrDEA focused its submission on energy storage as it relates district energy sector, in particular thermal energy storage systems (TES). As a general comment, however, we would strongly encourage the expansion of the policy framework beyond electricity storage to facilitate a whole system approach with respect to energy storage.

The full submission can be viewed and downloaded here.

With refreshed targets for District Heating set out in the latest Climate Action Plan 2023 (December 2022), the industry is tasked with delivering up to 0.8 TWh of district heating installed capacity by 2025, and up to 2.5 TWh by 2030. These targets are equivalent to connecting 80,000 homes by 2025 and 250,000 homes by 2030. It is intended that Ms Murphy’s appointment will help to drive forward the rapid growth of the organisation and the district energy sector in Ireland in the years ahead.

Commenting on the appointment, Chair of IrDEA, David Connolly said,

This is an important moment for the organisation, and we are truly excited about the new possibilities this appointment will bring for both the organisation and the sector. We would like to warmly welcome Yvonne and wish her the very best in her new role on behalf of the IrDEA membership.

IrDEA Director, Donna Gartland added,

It is our hope that as IrDEA’s new CEO, Yvonne will soon become a trusted voice with members, policymakers and the media, while providing thought leadership on issues related to district heating and the decarbonisation of Ireland’s heat sector. We want to wish her well with her new appointment and look forward to working with her.

On her appointment, Ms Murphy said,

I am incredibly excited to join IrDEA and very much look forward to working with the members to drive forward the development of the district energy sector in Ireland. This is a proven technology with enormous potential to deliver real change in the immediate future while also moving us closer to our commitment to achieving net zero by 2050. I am truly delighted to be joining IrDEA at such a pivotal time for the organisation and the sector.

Ends

If you would like to contact IrDEA about this appoint or make contact with Yvonne, drop us a line at info@districtenergy.ie.

The Irish District Energy Association has submitted a response on the Consultation on Geothermal Energy for a Circular Economy on behalf of its members.

The text is available here.

This consultation will inform the direction the policy framework will take and the future development of district heating in Ireland.

The closing date for submissions is 5pm on Friday, 28 February 2020. The consultation document is available here.

Codema held a webinar on The Role of the Public Sector in Developing 4th Generation District Heating, as part of the HeatNet NWE project, which is part-funded by the Interreg North-West Europe programme.

You can now view the webinar in the video on this page. The topics covered in this webinar included:

1. What is district heating?
2. Benefits of 4th Generation District Heating (4DHDC)
3. Why district heating is needed across Ireland
4. Current barriers and challenges for implementing district heating schemes
5. Why Public Sector involvement is so important
6. Setting out a roadmap for the public sector
7. How do I know my town / region is suitable for district heating?
8. Planning, economic and technological considerations
9. The latest on emerging public district heating schemes in Dublin

This webinar is a must for all public sector staff working in areas such as planning, architecture, climate change, engineering, facilities management, finance and procurement. It is also a great opportunity for those working in the energy, commercial and construction sectors to gain an insight into the emerging district heating market in Ireland and gain an understanding of the role they might play in future public or public-private schemes.

https://www.codema.ie/media/news/video-webinar-on-the-role-of-the-public-sector-in-developing-4th-gen-distri/

https://www.nweurope.eu/projects/project-search/heatnet-transition-strategies-for-delivering-low-carbon-district-heat/

https://www.codema.ie/media/news/video-webinar-on-the-role-of-the-public-sector-in-developing-4th-gen-distri/

The first project, the Tallaght District Heating Scheme, will receive almost €4.5 million and is a partnership between Codema and South Dublin County Council to develop a sustainable district heating solution in the Tallaght area to provide low-carbon heat to public sector, residential and commerical customers. The objective of this project is to decrease the emissions associated with the use of fossil fuels for heating in Tallaght. This project delivers a high level of innovation in the heating sector, with the first Irish data centre to be used to supply waste heat to heat nearby buildings, and will be the only such system in Ireland and the UK. The project is also supported through the HeatNet NWE project, which Codema is leading. HeatNet aims to promote the most advanced form of district heating throughout North-West Europe, and provides knowledge and expertise from a range of partners on this topic.

The second project, the Dublin District Heating System (DDHS), will capture waste heat from industrial facilities located on the Poolbeg peninsula, and in particular the waste heat generated at the Dublin Waste-to-Energy (DWtE) plant, and piping it into homes and businesses in the Poolbeg, Ringsend and Docklands areas of Dublin City. The waste heat produced from operations at the DWtE plant (90 MW of DH), has the potential to heat 50,000 homes in Dublin City, which would otherwise be released into the atmosphere. Codema has been working closely with Dublin City Council on this project, and has completed a Detailed Financial Appraisal and a Market Research Report and Communciations Strategy, among others.

The Tallaght District Heating Scheme will be connected in 2020, with Dublin City's DDHS due for connection the following year.

Codema is project partner with South Dublin County Council to develop the Tallaght District Heating Scheme (TDHS), which will be the first large-scale district heating network of its kind in Ireland. Phase 1 of of the scheme is due to begin construction in May 2021.

The scheme will also operate as Ireland’s first not-for-profit utility and will make a significant contribution to reducing carbon emissions in the area, saving almost 1,500 tonnes of CO2 each year and establishing Tallaght as a leader in innovation in the area of climate change.

District heating is a network of highly-insulated pipes that delivers low-carbon heat from a central energy source to provide space heating and hot water to the buildings connected to the network. In the case of the Tallaght District Heating Scheme, this project will deliver a high level of innovation, as waste heat from the nearby Amazon data centre will supply the heat to the network. During normal operation, heat demand will be 100% covered from the data centre waste heat.

The first phase of this project will connect existing and new local authority buildings and the TU Dublin-Tallaght campus to this local district heating network. There is also potential for the new residential development at Belgard Gardens, which will be home to more than 3,000 people, to connect to the network at a later phase.

Codema has helped South Dublin County Council to secure funding of almost €4.5 million for the Tallaght District Heating Scheme through the Government's Climate Action Fund, as well as support from the Interreg North-West Europe HeatNet NWE project and the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland.