Blanchardstown District Heating System

Developing an Outline Business Case for district heating in Blanchardstown.

May 2022 – February 2023

On this page: About the project Project results Project team Project partner Project resources

Photo of district heating pipes stacked on the ground - illustrative of pipes used in district heating systems

About the project

Fingal County Council (FCC) is proposing to implement the Blanchardstown District Heating Scheme (BDHS). The proposed system seeks to utilise a low-temperature waste heat source from a nearby data centre through a large-scale heat pump to supply space heating and hot water to a university campus, public hospital, and a national sports facilities campus in its first delivery phase. The system will also have the capacity to supply other nearby interested customers in the public and private sector in the following phases. This innovative district heating scheme will provide low-carbon, low-cost heat to the Blanchardstown area, and will be only the second of its kind in Ireland, following the example of the Tallaght District Heating Scheme in South County Dublin.

Codema's role in the project

As energy adviser to the council, Codema was appointed to develop an Outline Business Case (OBC) for a district heating system in the Blanchardstown area. The purpose of the OBC is to outline the justification of public expenditure to support the development of the scheme. It details the preferred solution and confirms if it will deliver the defined outcomes and benefits and provide value for money. The results of this feasibility study indicate that the scheme is both technically and economically viable and provides more benefits than the alternative (individual air-source heat pumps). This study delivers a high-level strategy. A technical detailed design would need to be completed before the recommendations are implemented.