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As much as 15 per cent of Dublin's hot water and heating
could be provided by geothermal energy within the next five
to seven years.
The Irish Times reports that early results of testing
at Newcastle in southwest Dublin showed that 10,000 homes
in that area could benefit from a geothermal system extracting
heat from 4,000m to 5,000m below ground.
Until now, mainly shallow geothermal energy - available at
depths of up to 150m - has been used in Ireland. This has
been successful for one-off houses and single developments.
Speaking at the Geothermal Association of Ireland's annual
conference in Kilkenny, geothermal contractor Pádraig Hanley
said the Newcastle tests were exceeding expectations and indications
were that similar systems across Dublin could be providing
up to 15 per cent of the city's requirement for hot water
and heat in five to seven years.
Hopes were also high that the energy may also be used to
generate electricity.
The method of securing geothermal energy involves hot water
being pumped to the earth's surface and circulated through
a district heating system to each home or business within
the locality. The water is then returned to the ground through
another bore hole.
Mr Hanley said the final phase of test results from the Newcastle
experiment would not be available until the end of this month.
However, he said that, when available, they would "not only
provide definitive information on the scale of the geothermal
resource at Newcastle" but also enable estimates of the geothermal
potential of the entire Dublin area.
Mr Hanley called on the Government "to expedite the legislation
that is urgently needed to enable us to proceed to the next
stage and the development of a geothermal plant. The sooner
the legislation is in place, the sooner we can begin to roll-out
this cheaper, constant renewable source of energy to consumers".
News of the testing was welcomed by Minister for Energy Eamon
Ryan, who said the Government would "iron out" any difficulties
in the way of renewable energy. He said - "geothermal
energy offers huge potential for Ireland to minimise our massive
fossil fuel bill, where we unnecessarily send money abroad
for energy we should be developing at home."
Source - The Irish Times
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