Geothermal energy could halve greenhouse gas emissions at the TU Dublin Grangegorman campus
On Friday 28 July, Minister for Environment, Climate and Communications Eamon Ryan TD joined RTÉ Environment Correspondent George Lee at the Energy Centre on the Grangegorman campus to discuss the government's recently published Geothermal Energy for a Circular Economy policy and the potential for decarbonised and locally sourced, renewable, and affordable energy.
In March 2021, Geological Surveys Ireland (GSI) came together with the Grangegorman Development Agency (GDA), TU Dublin, and CODEMA, and embarked on an exploration project to drill the first urban geothermal test hole in Ireland to obtain high-quality information about deep subsurface data. It was the first trial borehole of 1 km carried out by the GSI to assess geothermal potential in Ireland.
Deep bore geothermal heating is a well established technology, used in many countries across Europe where district heating is more common. For example, the greater Paris area in France has been using geothermal energy for heating since 1969, today supplying geothermal heat to 250,000 households over 50 district heating networks.
As part of the interview with RTÉ, Geological Survey Ireland Geologist, Siobhán Power, together with TU Dublin Environment and Sustainability Manager, Mark Geraghty, described the success of the project, concluding that there is great potential for deep-bore geothermal heating on the Grangegorman campus which could considerably help Grangegorman stakeholders to decarbonise their buildings. The initial trial borehole has showed promising results, with a temperature of 38.5°C at 1 km depth.
Natural gas is currently the primary source of space heating for TU Dublin. The challenge to decarbonise thermal energy is immense in terms of both the scale of work and related costs. The project partners involved are actively exploring funding opportunities to develop a full production deep bore geothermal well that would largely decarbonise heat on the local network.
TU Dublin already has district heating network systems developed on the Grangegorman and Tallaght campuses. These networks give the flexibility to use alternative energy and more sustainable centralised heating sources. The deep bore geothermal well on the Grangegorman campus could provide renewable heat to the already installed district heating network, replacing existing gas-fired boilers and cut TU Dublin’s greenhouse gas emissions in half.
The project stakeholders are now working to revise and update the energy strategy for the Grangegorman site, which includes further explorations to assess the potential for geothermal energy.
With the potential to be replicated across other public sector locations, this exemplar energy research project compliments the targets and indicators for United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): SDG 7 Affordable and Clean Energy, and SDG 9 Industry Innovation and Infrastructure.
Watch this interview: Nine News (Web) (rte.ie) - clip starts at 14:57 min.