Tour of the Tallaght District Heating Scheme for Dublin Climate Action Week

The Tallaght District Heating Scheme  is the first large-scale district heating network of its kind in Ireland. The scheme operates under Heat Works, Ireland’s first not-for-profit energy utility, fully owned by South Dublin County Council. The scheme makes 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 innovative local climate action.

The tours were given by Admir Shala, District Heating Development Manager with Heat Works and participants included members of the public, students and academia, energy sector represenatives, local authorities and other public sector bodies.

Attendees first got a tour of the Heat Works Energy Centre itself, before moving to over to TU Dublin Tallaght (where many of the campus buildings are connected to the district heating network) to view the substation.

The Tallaght District Heating Scheme uses waste heat from the nearby Amazon data centre and the tour was a great opportunity to see the utilisation of waste heat (that would otherwise just escape into the atmosphere) being put into climate action.

The tours were also an opportunity to highlight Codema’s role in two European projects that are supporting the Tallaght District Heating Scheme. The first project – DISCO – is an Interreg Europe project which focuses on helping local authorities improve policies that support low-carbon heating and cooling, with a particular emphasis on making better use of waste heat that is currently lost to air or water.

The second project, RODEO, is funded through the Interreg North-West Europe programme and aims to accelerate the roll out of district heating and cooling systems in residential areas, addressing a key challenge in the energy transition.