Minister signals move to curtail use of fossil fuel in homes

Government measures to combat the energy crisis due in coming weeks will also signal moves to restrict fossil fuel use including gas boilers in homes, leading to a likely ban on their installation at a future date, Minister for Climate Eamon Ryan has confirmed.

In tandem with this will be confirmation of accelerated rollout of district heating — where excess heat from industry is used to heat nearby homes — and scale up of retrofits, he told a conference hosted by the Irish District Energy Association in Dublin on Thursday.

Acknowledging Gas Networks Ireland had connected 8,000 homes last year with gas boilers, Mr Ryan said it was not acceptable at a time of a climate and energy crisis “to replace fossils with fossils”.

The package of measures would have to send clear signals, he said, that installation of gas boilers would not be allowed possibly with a two- to three-year grace period and the assurance of support in adopting renewable alternatives. He believed this could be achieved through building regulations and would not require primary legislation.

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He expected the first significant district heating system in Dublin would be in place in two to three years using excess heat from the Covanta incinerator in Poolbeg. At present, Mr Ryan said, there was “incredible wastage” that was heating up Dublin Bay, when there was a pipe network under the Liffey that could heat nearby offices, north and south of the river. It could also heat social housing and Georgian Dublin, where retrofitting was not possible, he said.

Chairwoman of the Climate Change Advisory Council Maire Donnelly said there was a need for far greater ambition in adopting renewable heating technology, especially district heating. Regulation worked as the use of gas and oil boilers was declining though not by enough, she noted. In addition, there was an opportunity to deploy district heating at an industrial scale as so many oil boilers were reaching the end-of-life stage.

The right policy, regulation and zoning of areas, however, needed to be in place by the end of this year to enable take-off, while grants for retrofits could not be allowed in areas where a district heating option was available, she underlined.

The Irish mindset had to change to the view that “energy is a service, it is not a fuel”, Ms Donnelly said. The electricity system had been based on a fuel-based market and, as predicted by some, the wholesale market had broken, while recent events meant this happened sooner than anticipated.

Storage back-up

Moving to a weather-dependent energy system where “we can predict the weather but cannot control it” required a careful balancing of needs because nature could be bountiful and sometimes not — with a fundamental need for storage back-up.

David Connolly, chief technology officer with the heat company Astatine, said achieving wide recognition among consumers that district heating was “the attractive cost alternative” was key to kick-starting the sector in Ireland. “It’s the most cost-effective thing to do for people in areas with district heating options,” he added.

He cited a survey in Denmark this year that confirmed 90 per cent of schemes saw no increase in their energy costs. “They are looking around and saying, ‘what on earth is happening with gas prices in Europe’?”

He said it was telling that European countries with the highest level of renewable heat — notably in Scandinavia — had extensive district heating networks.

In hindsight, Mr Connolly believed Ireland should not have built a gas network and instead should have installed district heating networks.

Donna Gartland, chief executive of Dublin’s energy agency Codema, underlined that 44 per cent of Ireland’s energy needs were from heating. The district heating option where possible was “a much easier ask for householders” as it provided “a plug and place option” with a one-day switch over where a network was in place, she added.

She confirmed the Poolbeg scheme had been delayed but it had received €20 million from the climate action fund and the backing of Dublin City Council. She expected that a partner would come on board in the coming months to enable a move to the development stage.

The only other development being planned is Tallaght’s pilot district heating scheme, with most of the excess heat coming from the nearby Amazon data centre.