HFO-1234ze(E) used in Ireland’s First Low-Carbon District Heating Network

Ireland’s first low-carbon district heating network located in Tallaght, Dublin, is using a heat pump system with HFO-1234ze(E) as refrigerant. The system utilises waste heat from a nearby Amazon Web Services data centre, free of cost, to provide low-carbon heating to commercial and residential customers. During normal operation, heat demand is fully covered by the data centre’s waste heat. The heat pump has four compressors with a heat recovery capacity of 2,120kW.

Tallaght’s district heating system is 1.5 kilometers long and is initially heating 32,800 square meters of public sector buildings including South Dublin Council’s County Hall building, the library complex and The Institute of Technology Tallaght. The network is estimated to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in the South Dublin County area by nearly 1,500 tonnes per year.  One of the reported key advantages of heat pumps that use HFO-1234ze(E) is that they are safe to be installed in densely urbanized areas. HFO-1234ze(E) is an energy efficient, ultra-low-global-warming-potential (AR6 GWP 1.37) refrigerant.

To advance towards carbon neutrality and to phase out EU dependence on fossil fuels imports, there is an urgent need to reduce fossil fuels consumption for heating purposes. In that context, modern and efficient district heating systems can connect local demand with low-temperature renewable and waste energy sources, as well as the wider electric and gas grids, thereby contributing to the optimisation of supply and demand across energy carriers. The REPowerEU Plan and the proposals for a revision of the Energy Efficiency Directive (EED) and the Renewable Energy Directive (RED) set out ambitious measures, including to increase the use of renewable energy and waste heat in district heating systems.

Sources: Manufacturer’s information, Refrigeration Industry, Cooling Post, and EU district heating objectives