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Dublin City Council today awarded Ireland’s first local authority Energy Performance Contract (EPC) project to Noel Lawler Green Energy Solutions. Working closely with the Dublin Energy Agency Codema, the project will save the council up to €100,000 on its energy and maintenance costs per year. 

An EPC is a contractual agreement by an Energy Service Company (ESCo) to guarantee energy savings over an agreed period of time.

The project involves the upgrade of three Dublin City Council Sports & Fitness facilities, namely Markievicz Sports and Fitness Centre, Finglas Sports & Fitness Centre and Ballymun Sports and Fitness Centre, by using an Energy Performance Contract.  In this instance, the EPC project will achieve average energy savings of more than 30 per cent per year through a range of energy-efficiency upgrades.  These include:

• new LED lighting
• new combined heat and power systems to efficiently heat the swimming pools
• improved building control systems which will help manage all of the equipment in the centres to ensure that they are working together effectively

Speaking earlier today as the contract was signed, Chief Executive Brendan Kenny said: “Today marks a real milestone for Dublin City Council, who will be the first local authority to implement an Energy Performance Contract in Ireland.  This project is a great example of how the public sector can work together to drive efficiencies and I would like to thank the great teams in Codema, the SEAI and the Department of Energy for their support and technical assistance.  I would also like to thank the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport who are providing up to €518,000 towards the upgrades.  I would like to personally congratulate Noel Lawler Green Energy Solutions and we look forward to working with them on this project."

Joe Hayden, Executive Engineer with Codema, added: “The EPC model is very successful and is well-established in countries such as Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic, so it is great to see it finally arriving in Ireland.  EPC not only provides the council with the security of guaranteed energy savings, it also saves on the cost and hassle of maintaining these upgrades over the lifetime of the contract.”

This EPC contract involving the three leisure centres will run for eight years and Dublin City Council expects the work to get underway later this year.  

Codema is continuing to develop its knowledge on EPC through its involvement in the GuarantEE project, which has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 696040.