The electricity industry in Ireland is undergoing unprecedented change, facilitating our country’s transition to a low carbon energy system, while providing secure supplies of green and affordable energy to our homes and businesses.
ESB Networks is tasked with leading this charge and, as part of its information-gathering process, it’s trialling technologies on the Dingle Peninsula in recent months.
A pilot programme is taking place on the Dingle Peninsula, which aims to provide ESB Networks with the information and knowledge to implement changes across the national network in the future.
This includes retrofitting homes and businesses with cleaner technologies, such as solar panels, air source heat pumps and smart immersion controls.
I’ve been speaking to those involved in the project, including an energy expert and a local ambassador who is trialling some of the new technologies.
But first, I caught up with Fergal Egan, the manger of the Dingle project and asked him what is it all about.
While this project has been ongoing for some time now, the recent COVID-19 crisis has meant a number of events had to be postponed. However, as Fergal tells me, that hasn’t derailed the project.
While ESB Networks has installed a number of technologies in homes on the Dingle peninsula, we’re going to concentrate on eHeating and, more specifically, air source heat pumps.
For more on this, I spoke to Paul Kenny, CEO of Tipperary Energy.
I first asked Paul: what is eHeat?
Most older houses around the county have heating with some form of fossil fuel, whether it be coal, turf, briquettes or oil. I asked Paul is it possible to use the current form of heating with an air to water heat pump.
All the theory sounds great, but I sought the views of someone who’s been using the technologies in recent months. Rory McKeown lives in Dunquin, on the westernmost tip of the Dingle Peninsula. Late year, ESB Networks installed an air source heat pump and solar panels in his home. I caught up with Rory recently to speak about the heat pump and how he’s found it.
That was Rory McKeown, a Dunquin resident who is an ESB Networks ambassador on the Dingle Project.
More information can be found at ESB Networks.ie
Eamonn Hickson - May 2020
