Delivering District Heating for Galway City

HeatGrid Ireland is leading Ireland’s district heating sector as it aims to supply up to 500 GWh of heat demand. Founded by Dr. David Connolly and supported by Asper Investment Management, our aim is to accelerate the delivery of district heating projects by providing a full turn-key solution to customers.

HeatGrid Ireland is progressing with Phase 1 of our Low-Carbon Galway District Heating Network.

Benefits for Galway City

  • Substantial Carbon Savings

  • Create Greater Energy Security for the Future

  • Attract Industry and Employment to the area

  • Opportunity for homes to decarbonise

  • Positive Infrastructure Project that will benefit the people and businesses in the city

About the Network

District Heating - A Game Changer for Ireland’s Carbon Emissions

District heating is the most widely used and cost-effective method of supplying low-carbon heat in urban areas. The basic principle can be split into three parts:

  1. An energy centre produces renewable heat which heats water to about 80 °C

  2. A pipe network carries this heated water to the customer’s buildings where it will be consumed

  3. Customer buy heat in the same way that they buy gas or electricity today

European countries such as Sweden, Denmark and Finland are already supplying approximately 50% of their heat in buildings from district heating. In Ireland however, district heating is underdeveloped with less than 10 GWh of heat currently being produced.

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.

Galway City marks the first step on this transformative journey.

Cleaner

Swedish district heating on average produces 90% less CO₂ emissions than a gas-fired system

Feasible

The areas highlighted in purple, red, orange and yellow below are suitable for to be heated using district heating

Worst in EU

Ireland had the lowest share of energy (13.1%) from renewable sources in 2022 compared to the EU average of 24.8%

Planning Application

Overview

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.

Planning Application Documents & Drawings

Documents and drawings submitted to Galway City Council as part of the Planning Application can be found below.

Newspaper & Site Notice

Want to find out more?

If you’re looking to discuss or find out more about the Galway District Heating Project - you can do so using the form below. Our local team will get back to you as soon as possible.