Plans for Galway’s second proposed district heating network — providing heat through several kilometres of underground pipes on the east side of the city — have been lodged with Galway City Council.

They will involve the demolition of a building at the Galway Crystal premises near Merlin Park and the construction of a ‘district heating energy centre’ on the site.

From there, hot water generated at the new low-carbon centre will be piped along an 8km network of underground pipes running throughout most of Renmore, Mervue, Murrough, Merlin Park and Rosshill areas.

HeatGrid Ireland, the energy company behind the plans, say that initially, the €70m project will service large complexes such as ATU Galway and three hospitals on the eastern side of the city — and in later phases connect domestic and other commercial premises to the grid.

An energy centre produces renewable heat which heats water to about 80 °C, a pipe network carries this water to provide warmth and hot water to customers’ buildings, and customers buy the heat in the same way that they buy gas or electricity today.

HeatGrid’s application for planning permission represents the second scheme of its kind to seek approval this year from city planners.

Last month, an application for planning permission was lodged for the building of an energy centre in Doughiska, close to the NCT centre, that would use a mix of renewable energy technologies to pump heat along a 2km-plus network of pipes to existing major businesses, and future expansion would allow it to service homes in the Doughiska and Ardaun areas.

City planners are due to make a decision next week on that application for the Galway City East Energy Centre and Heat Network, which would see pipes running underground the length of Doughiska Road, crossing Old Ballybrit Road to the north and running as far as the Clayton Hotel, and crossing Old Dublin Road to the south, as far as Castlegar GAA Club.

The new proposal for the centre based on part of the site of the Galway Crystal premises was previously outlined by HeatGrid in a presentation to city councillors in May this year, at which they described it as Ireland’s largest low carbon ‘district heating’ project, which could be operational in four years.

They said that 10 large buildings — including three hospitals (Merlin Park, Galway Clinic and Bons Secours), the Garda Headquarters in Murrough, Atlantic Technological University on Dublin Road and potentially the planned new City Hall at Crown Square — would slash their heating carbon emissions by two-thirds, the equivalent of taking 3,000 cars off the road.

This project has the potential to provide 55 GWh of low-carbon heat, leading to annual CO₂ savings of over 9,000 tonnes, which is equivalent to the carbon footprint of over 4,000 homes.

Pictured: Outlined in red is the location of the new centre at the Galway Crystal premises on the Dublin Road.