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The project is focusing on ways to retrofit large commercial and public buildings, which could have a big impact on emissions.
A new €1.2m project will develop and test a ‘one-stop-shop’ implementation unit for energy efficient and renewable energy projects in Dublin.
The Deliveree project is being led by energy agency Codema, with funding from the EU Horizon 2020 programme.
It will look to support more than €20m worth of upgrades to council buildings and sites, retrofitting a range of facilities such as leisure centres, fire stations, theatres, libraries, offices, community buildings and landfill treatment sites.
This pipeline of projects is expected to be completed over the next four years and could reduce carbon emissions in Dublin by almost 4,000 tonnes.
A key part of the project will be establishing a system to process and assess potential projects quickly to identify and gather the most suitable buildings to upgrade. The retrofit work will be carried out using energy performance-based contracts, with the aim of ensuring long-term guaranteed energy savings and making projects more financially attractive.
The Irish Government has set out an ambition for all public buildings to achieve a Building Energy Rating (BER) of B by 2030. But Donna Gartland, CEO of Codema, said the challenge lies in how this can be achieved at the scale and speed required.
“The Deliveree project directly responds to this challenge by testing and developing a much-needed, long-term solution for mainstreaming sustainable energy investments.
“By creating this project implementation unit, not only can we develop energy projects quickly and efficiently, we can also find attractive, large-scale, de-risked projects for investors, while establishing a professional marketplace for energy service companies to tender for contracts.”
Codema is Dublin’s energy agency, providing energy and climate mitigation advice to the four local authorities in the county. Last year, Gartland spoke to Siliconrepublic.com about Dublin’s low-carbon transition and opportunities in the energy sector.
The Deliveree project begins this week. As well as Codema, the consortium involved includes Dublin’s local authorities and a range of legal, procurement and financial experts.
Elsewhere, a new partnership between Electric Ireland and Tipperary Energy Agency announced this week could see 35,000 Irish homes retrofitted with deep home energy upgrades by 2030.
