South Dublin County Council’s (SDCC) Tallaght District Heating Network, trading as Heatworks, is Ireland’s first publicly owned, not-for-profit energy company.

It will provide low-carbon heat to public buildings in the local area. It is estimated that in the first phase of delivery, the carbon emissions reduction in the Tallaght area will be over 1,500 tonnes per year.

Customers of the new company include SDCC and Technological University Dublin (TU Dublin), with many of the university’s buildings in the area being supplied by Heatworks.

The company will also service 133 affordable apartments, which will connect to the network in early 2025.

Heatworks uses excess heat from the local Amazon Web Services (AWS) data centre. AWS has included heat-collection systems in its new facility which provides the heat at no cost.

Minister Eamon Ryan spoke at the launch of the new company, saying: “This is a leading example of how energy that would be otherwise be wasted is now being used to heat local public buildings, a university, and people’s homes, and I know that there are plans to go beyond this in time.”