Energy West | District Heating in the West of Ireland | Galway

Описание: AGENDA:
Developments in the District Heat Sector in Ireland - Pauline O'Reilly

The Irish District Energy Association (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. IrDEA are the only trade organisation representing the District Heating & Cooling (DHC) sector in Ireland. Acting on behalf of their members, IrDEA support and promote the growth of the DHC industry, creating a new heating market for Ireland, which offers greater opportunities to use indigenous low-carbon and renewable sources of heat.

IrDEA is the go-to place to find expertise and information on DHC in Ireland. IrDEA 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.

Pauline O'Reilly is the CEO of the Irish District Energy Association, which represents the emerging district heating sector in Ireland. A Galwegian, she has been a Senator and Chair of the Green Party, as well as a solicitor and advocate for numerous projects in the city. District Heating received its first round of development funding during her tenure. Pauline is passionate about decarbonising the heat sector in Ireland. She aims to discuss the potential, particularly in the West of Ireland, to centralise zero-carbon heating particularly for large energy users

Galway District Heating Project - Dr. David Connolly

HeatGrid Ireland have submitted a Planning Application to Galway City Council for a proposed development consisting of a district heating network and energy centre. The district heating network is a low-carbon heat network, capable of generating and supplying low carbon heat to public sector, industrial, commercial and residential heat users. The energy centre primarily uses renewable energy in the form of renewable electricity supplied from the electricity grid, to generate low-carbon heat that displaces the need for individual heat users to burn fossil fuels, thereby allowing them to decarbonise their heating systems and buildings. A link to the Galway City Council planning file can be found here.

David Connolly is currently CEO of HeatGrid Ireland, which is developing low-carbon district heating networks in Ireland, and also Chairperson of the Irish District Energy Association, which he co-founded in 2017. He previously worked as an Associate Professor in Aalborg University Denmark, where he specialised in national energy planning and in particular the potential for district heating across Europe. District heating is the most widely used and cost-effective method of supplying low-carbon heat in urban areas.In 2024, the Irish Government set a target of 2,700 GWh of heat to be produced from district heating by 2030. HeatGrid aims to deliver 500 GWh of this, resulting in annual carbon savings of over 120,000 tonnes of CO₂, the equivalent of decarbonising more than 53,000 homes.