Feasibility of heating system at Carlinn Hall in Dundalk for geothermic heating soon to be revealed

The long-awaited feasibility study into whether the communal heating scheme Carlinn Hall in Dundalk is suitable for a geothermal heat source will be published in the next couple of weeks, Louth Sinn Féin TD Ruairí Ó Murchú has been told.

The news of the publication of the SEAI feasibility report, into the 200-home development at Carlinn Hall, was revealed during a parliamentary question to Minister for the Circular Economy, Ossian Smyth, last week.

Deputy Ó Murchú had asked the minister for an update on when the study would be published. He said: “I would like an update on where this is. We really need to provide these people with a solution.”

Minister Smyth said he complimented Deputy Ó Murchú “on doggedly pursuing this issue on a number of occasions in the House and outside it” and added that “progress is being made”.

Minister Smyth said: “An independent consultancy was commissioned by the SEAI to undertake this research. The report has now been drafted. It contains recommendations on heat network efficiency and options for low carbon heat alternatives, including costs of installation and operation.

“The report will be published in early October. It is important to note that the scheme in question is privately owned and managed and decisions to implement any of the recommendations would be a matter for the relevant parties to consider.”

In response, Deputy Ó Murchú said: “In a previous parliamentary question I asked whether we needed to do work to ensure there was an SEAI grant system for management companies and companies such as Frontline Energy and others involved in this communal heating system.

“This is from the point of view of delivering when we finally do have a feasible product that could offer a real, decent, sustainable heating source rather than gas.

“We need this to be published in October and the sooner the better. Then we need to make sure that it is enacted. People have waited a long time and we do not know what exactly will be the case with gas prices. Beyond this we want sustainability and this is the Achilles heel of district heating.”

Minister Smyth said it presented “a great opportunity” as just one component, the boilers that run the district heating, had to be swapped out, rather than hundreds of individual homes.

He said: “I have not yet seen the draft of the SEAI report and I am looking forward to doing so. It will provide a choice of options for various types of renewable energy heating that could be put in place.

“It is such that it will provide good value for money for a switch. It will be liable for Government support in the same way that individual systems are liable for support. I will work with the SEAI to develop a scheme’.

The Dundalk TD it was “all very positive” but he would be ‘holding the Minister of State to his word’. While Deputy Ó Murchú said he accepted there would be large amount of consultation needed between residents and all stakeholders in Carlinn Hall, the government needed “to provide them with grant schemes that are easily applicable and can provide the support that will be needed.”

Minister Smyth said he would help the SEAI “in any way” to set up the scheme when the report is published.