In the Tallaght area of Dublin, a data centre needs cooling while surrounding households need heating, a case well suited to a mutually beneficial thermal energy network. This is a project for TEN21, the collaboration platform Energy Modelling Lab is a partner of: in Dublin, the TEN21 toolbox was used to support local officials on how to expand the district heating network to make use of the data centre’s waste heat, building an energy system model to find an efficient expansion strategy from a techno-economic perspective and creating a strategy for commercialising the district heating activity on a cost recovery basis.
The work was carried out in close dialogue with South Dublin County Council and Dublin’s Energy Agency (CODEMA) to ensure it would have a real-world impact, part of TEN21’s wider mission to help cities across Europe deliver climate-friendly thermal energy.
Energy Modelling Lab developed an optimisation model within the TIMES framework, covering Dublin’s heat and power sector at an especially high level of detail, and used it to develop a series of CO2-neutral scenarios for cooling and heating in Dublin, identifying the best fit for each district.
An optimisation model built within the TIMES framework, covering Dublin’s heat and power sector at an especially high level of detail.
Developed in close dialogue with South Dublin County Council and Dublin’s Energy Agency (CODEMA) to ensure the work would have a real-world impact.
A series of CO2-neutral heating and cooling scenarios and a cost-recovery commercialisation strategy for expanding Dublin’s district heating network around data centre waste heat.
Client: Not applicable (TEN21 case study rather than a single commissioned client project)
Collaborators: South Dublin County Council, Dublin’s Energy Agency (CODEMA)
EML team: Ida Græsted Jensen, Andrea Marin Radoszynski
Budget: Not stated on the existing page
Duration: April 2021
Model: TIMES