Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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11. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if he will outline his short- and medium-term plans for emergency electricity generation at Huntstown, Finglas; and if a district heating system may form part of future developments. [55200/22]

Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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I recently attended the EirGrid road show in Erin's Isle GAA club. It is a fairly big hall but it was fairly packed with people who I think had a renewed curiosity in the security of electricity supply and where our supply comes from and how it is used. There was considerable discussion around Huntstown, which is located just north of Finglas, with regard to future plans there and the possibility of a district heating system at that location.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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The Commission for Regulation of Utilities, CRU, has statutory responsibility to ensure security of supply. It also has the duty to monitor electricity supplies and to take such measures as it considers necessary to protect the security of supply. It is assisted in this role by EirGrid and my Department. The CRU currently has a programme of actions under way to ensure the security of electricity supply over coming winters. The security of supply programme of actions contains both a number of demands and supply-side mitigation measures to address the forecasted shortfall. These actions include the procurement of new enduring capacity through a number of capacity auctions; procuring additional temporary generation; extending the availability of existing generation capacity; additional use of grid-scale batteries; and improved demand-side measures.

One of the sites selected for temporary generation capacity is located in Huntstown. It will provide 50 MW of back-up capacity to meet peak demand as a last resort, if all other dispatchable generation has been exhausted. These units are temporary in nature and, therefore, are not expected to be available to provide a long-term district heating solution for their localities. My Department established a district heating steering group this year which draws together expertise and experience relevant to district heating from a number of public sector stakeholders.

The steering group is in the process of drafting its report, in which it will make recommendations to advance district heating projects in the State.

Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire. I welcome the clarification about the temporary emergency power generation at that location. That will bring the total power generation on the site up to almost 800 MW. I was surprised to hear that 20% of the total generation on the island is generated at the Huntstown plant. There is also a bioenergy anaerobic digestion power station separate to the conventional gas generator. The idea of retrofitting a district heating system to an established generation plant is, of course, complex but these large projects have a community benefit. If we could provide a district heating system connected with the various different activities at Huntstown it would provide a significant benefit to the surrounding community.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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The Deputy is right to draw our attention to the potential of district heating. It is going to play a vital role in meeting our climate targets, protecting our people from high fossil fuel prices and building better homes for them. As the Deputy knows, it is not without its complications. We need to learn from other countries and from the small number of projects that have been developed here. However, it is going to play a key role. That is why we have set up the working group, which has met more than a dozen times and which will produce a report shortly.

It would be good for Deputy McAuliffe to talk to Codema, which is Dublin's energy efficiency agency. It has done a really good map of the entire city that shows potential district heating source locations. It is less likely with the type of power generation we are talking about here because in a more flexible system, it might be turned on and off and would not provide constant heat. Anywhere there is a waste heat source, whether it is from industry or from the Poolbeg incinerator, may be suitable. Such sources include data centres, which are quite extensive in the Deputy's constituency. In one instance in south Dublin, we have taken the waste heat from a data centre to heat a local hospital. That might be an avenue to pursue.

Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister. We must be very open to finding such sources. Many of the speakers at the meeting, including those from Codema, whet our appetite about what is possible. There are planning applications for data centres at the site in question. As I said, I would like us to keep an open mind about how we could provide district heating or other forms of community benefit. Whatever else happens, there is a far greater awareness within the community about where our energy comes from and the fact that the move away from fossil fuels and towards more efficient sources of heating is to our benefit.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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I will be brief. I am very glad Codema was represented at the roadshow. If there are projects at planning stage, that is the time to design in such a system as a planning condition. Companies should be willing to support this. They also have corporate social responsibility and their own emissions reduction targets. There can be no better way of achieving that than using waste heat from any commercial industrial process to support the local community to create a commercial opportunity around the use of that heat. I urge the Deputy to continue the work with industry and Codema to deliver it locally.