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Tallaght in Co Dublin will become Ireland’s first major urban center, where many buildings will soon benefit from a very cheap source of energy known as district heating.
In this case, the excess heat that will be used to heat the buildings will come from a large data center in the area managed by Amazon Web Services (AWS).
District heating is common in many large cities in Europe, where waste heat from local industry, power plants or incinerators is used to heat other facilities. The option is available in very few cases in Ireland, although the government program is committed to expanding its deployment.
The South Dublin County Council (SDCC) has established Ireland’s first publicly owned non-profit energy company, Heatworks, with the support of AWS and Finnish-owned energy company Fortum eNext to provide low-carbon heat to local buildings.
It will operate the Tallaght District Heating Network, which when completed is expected to reduce carbon emissions in the local authority area by nearly 1,500 tonnes per year.
The network will use excess heat from the recently completed data center to provide low-carbon heat to a mix of commercial, residential and public sector customers. AWS provides recycled heat free of charge under its broader sustainability commitments.
Fortum, a power supply company with extensive experience in district heating in Scandinavia and Eastern Europe, was contracted to carry out the design, installation and operation of the grid.
According to Heatworks, the grid’s low-carbon, low-cost heat supply is expected to attract more innovative businesses and developments to downtown Tallaght, and facilitate educational programs and startup opportunities in renewable energy solutions, as well as to help alleviate energy poverty.
EU funding
The project is partly funded by the EU’s Heatnet program that promotes carbon reduction through district heating in north-western Europe. It is also receiving € 4.5 million from the Government’s climate action fund and direct funding from the SDCC.
It will start supplying heat before the end of 2021, and the initial customers will be SDCC and the Tallaght campus of Dublin University of Technology. The City Hall buildings heated by this project will include the SDCC City Hall and County Library, followed by the Rua Red Arts Center and the Civic Theater.
By 2024, heat will also be supplied to nearby developments that recently received planning permission, including affordable housing units and student housing.
SDCC Executive Director Daniel McLoughlin said: “The Tallaght District Heating Network shows how public-private collaboration using well-established district heating technology can build a system to recycle heat from an Amazon data center. Web Services to contribute significantly to helping Ireland achieve its 2030 sustainability goals. ”
He believed that this plan could become a model for other districts in Ireland. “We look forward to future collaborations as South County Dublin moves towards a low carbon future,” he added.
“We are delighted to be able to support. . . [this] district heating scheme, which will use excess heat from our data center to reduce carbon emissions in Tallaght over time, ”said AWS Ireland Country Manager Mike Beary.
Eddie Conroy, SDCC County Architect, confirmed plans to provide the heat source for 3,000-5,000 residential units, primarily apartments, over the medium term.
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