COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

Monday, May 09, 2022

QUESTION NO. 10

QUESTION: Councillor K. Mahon

Can the Chief Executive give a report on the Tallaght District Heating System to include, the legal and commercial basis on which the holding company was established, what protections exist to maintain the company and infrastructure in public ownership - where any decisions regarding future changes in the ownership model lie?

REPLY:  South Dublin District-heating CLG is a not-for-profit Company Limited by Guarantee incorporated under the Companies Act 2014.

Trading as “Heatworks”, it is a single-share company fully owned by South Dublin County Council . It is registered with the Office of the Revenue Commissioners and for VAT. Audited accounts have been prepared and approved. As a Company Limited by Guarantee, it is one of a number of companies for specific purposes established by SDCC such as Grange-Castle Business-park, Tallaght Leisure Services, Civic-theatre etc.

The company’s mission is to promote a low-carbon economy in South Dublin County including the development of a range of renewable technologies. This will initially focus on the potential of district-heating through a pilot project centred on Tallaght town-centre and based on the intensification and use of recyclable waste heat from the ADSIL (Amazon Data-Services Ireland Ltd.) datacentre at the junction of Belgard Road/Airton Road.   As the first publicly owned heat utility in Ireland, this project has proved innovative in terms of international Green-procurement, the development of new Energy-supply contracts, the design and construction of 4G large-scale air-to-water electric heat pumps and medium-voltage boilers. It is hoped that as the district-heating network is rolled out that new opportunities in training and education in renewable-heat technology will be developed including in partnership with TUD-Tallaght who will be connected to the heat-network.

In commercial terms, the company infrastructure is being constructed with the benefit of grant-support from Inter-Reg NW and more significantly from the National Climate Action Fund through the Dept. of Environment, Climate and Communications. The company will be aided by the provision of recyclable waste-heat at no charge by Amazon Data Services Ireland Ltd. This heat needs to be increased in temperature to transmit it through the heat-network and this will be achieved through efficient air-to-water electric heat-pumps.  While the company is not-for-profit, the system has to be properly maintained and efficient to ensure its low-carbon targets and will need additional capital funding to allow its expansion in Tallaght.  The company must remain viable while offering good value to its customers and its customer-charges will reflect this balance.

Heatworks has contracted e-Next Forum, an Irish subsidiary of Fortum- a Finnish multi-national energy-supply company to Design-Build-Operate-Maintain the heat-network.  This contract is for a period of 10 years. The network is still under construction and the operational phase of the network i.e., distribution of heat will commence late August 2022. There are no plans to change the company status or structure before the end of this initial contract period.