Mr Ryan visited the Poolbeg facility near the Dublin docks on Thursday as a Government report setting out ambitious plans to introduce district heating throughout the State between now and 2050 was published.
When the plant was built its specifications included boilers, turbines and condensers needed to provide district heating to the surrounding area. However, that part of the operation has yet to be commenced. Mr Ryan said the system could, when all the infrastructure was in place, provide heating to all of the housing and developments on the nearby Glass Bottle site, to older Georgian houses in the historic core of Dublin – using the coal cellars as an access point – and to big projects such as the maternity hospital planned for Merrion Road.