Ms Gina Kelly:

The council welcomed the inclusion in the draft NPF of a new national planning objective specifically focusing on district heating and also in going through developments for a number of regions. It highlights areas in specific cities for district heating growth and development. As regards the broader policy development piece to enable district heating, we saw in the past few days the progression of the heat (networks and miscellaneous provisions) Bill, which is a very welcome development in terms of putting in place that regulatory and legislative framework for district heating. Linked to the point we made in the opening statement regarding the interaction of district heating with other low carbon heat sources, that is pointing to the national heat policy statement, which is a follow-on from the heat study carried out by the SEAI. What we are getting at there is the interaction between zones that are most appropriate for district heating deployment. That is also linked to compact growth targets and delivery of compact growth, which makes district heating networks more effective and deliverable. As regards the interaction between areas that are most suitable for heat pumps, for example, or other low-carbon heat sources, rather than district heating, the way it is currently developing is that we are seeing deployment of heat pumps within areas that might be suitable for district heating networks and that may be eroding some of the business cases for district heating. The SEAI published its updated national energy projections this morning and they raise significant concerns, which the council also raised in its sectoral review for the built environment earlier this year, on the delivery and deployment of district heating schemes on the ground to meet the targets within the climate action plan for 2030.

Going back to the NPF, the inclusion of a national policy objective on district heating is very welcome as a starting point.

It will need to be linked to broader policy development to progress it, however.