“That the Council, working with Codema, Dublin CARO and other appropriate bodies, produce or commission a report on the potential for additional District Heating projects in Fingal including projects which would a) use existing or planned sewage treatment plants and networks as a heat source; b) use seawater as a heat source; c) use Metrolink tunnels/stations as a heat source and supply heat to i) facilities and businesses with high year-round hot water/heat demand such as restaurants, cafés, manufacturing, ii) hard to retrofit historic towns such as Howth, Malahide, Skerries, Balbriggan including liaising with relevant partners with a view to putting in place a pipeline of projects; ensuring that current infrastructural projects are designed with appropriate heat extraction or delivery elements or with the ability to retrofit them easily and cost-effectively.”

The motion in the name of Councillor D. Healy, was proposedby Councillor D. Healy and secondedby Councillor J. Newman

“That the Council, working with Codema, Dublin CARO and other appropriate

bodies, produce or commission a report on the potential for additional District

Heating projects in Fingal including projects which would:

a) use existing or planned sewage treatment plants and networks as a heat

source;

b) use seawater as a heat source;

c) use Metrolink tunnels/stations

as a heat source and supply heat to:

a) facilities and businesses with high year-round hot water/heat demand such as

restaurants, cafés, manufacturing,

b) hard to retrofit historic towns such as Howth, Malahide, Skerries, Balbriggan

including liaising with relevant partners with a view to putting in place a pipeline

of projects; ensuring that current infrastructural projects are designed with

appropriate heat extraction or delivery elements or with the ability to retrofit

them easily and cost-effectively.”

Report:

The SEAI published in May a “Comprehensive Assessment of the Potential for

Efficient Heating and Cooling in Ireland”. which is a requirement of the Energy

Efficiency Directive. The Scope of the assessment includes district heating. The

assessment includes a map at Small Area Statistic of heating and cooling demand

and a map of larger waste heat sources (power stations, data centres, industrial

sites, wastewater treatment sites & waste to energy facilities. The report identifies

financially feasible district heating potential of 4.5 TWh/yr of heat.

To go beyond the detail in the SEAI report to assess the feasibility at a local level

would be a significant undertaking requiring outline design, consultation with

potential waste heat suppliers, detailed costing and financial analysis.

Currently the Council is progressing a district heating scheme in the North

Blanchardstown Area using data centre heat. To date the Council has spent euro

129k (not including internal staff resources) from its own resources and is awaiting

decisions on funding for the next stage of planning, tender design and

procurement. It will then have to submit an application for capital funding (max

50%) and secure the balance from its own resources or enter a joint venture with

a private sector operator. Given the cost, current focus on the Blanchardstown

Scheme, uncertainty regarding central government funding it is not

recommended that the study proposed progress now.

Source of Report:

John Daly, Senior Engineer, ECAATS 

The motion was AGREED.