Public Consultation on the introduction of the European Union (District Heating) Regulations 2022

The Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Mr. Darragh O’Brien, T.D., has announced a public consultation on his intention to introduce European Union (District Heating) Regulations 2022.

A Regulatory Impact Assessment is included in the public consultation material.

Directive 2009/28/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources (recast) as amended by Directive (EU) 2018/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2018 requires Member States to introduce appropriate measures in their building regulations and codes in order to increase the share of all kinds of energy from renewable sources in the building sector. Article 15(4) of the Directive requires that Member States shall permit minimum levels of renewable energy in Building Regulations to be fulfilled through efficient district heating and cooling using a significant share of renewable energy and waste heat and cold.

In order to transpose the requirements of this Directive and introduce additional requirements it is proposed to introduce European Union (District Heating) Regulations. Technical Guidance Document L- Dwellings and Technical Guidance Document L- Buildings other than Dwellings are being updated to accompany these Regulations. Proposed amendments to these Technical Guidance Documents are shown in blue text.

General submissions and comments on the proposed Regulations or draft Technical Guidance Documents should be sent by email to climateaction@housing.gov.ie

The closing date for the receipt of submissions and comments is no later than 5:00 p.m. on 15 July 2022.

All submissions and comments submitted to the Department for this purpose are subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2014, and the European Communities (Access to Information on the Environment) Regulations 2007- 2014, and Data Protection legislation.

Personal, confidential or commercially sensitive information should not be included in your submission and it will be presumed that all information contained in your submission is releasable under the Freedom of Information Act 2014.

Please note that the Department may publish a summary of the responses received.

A privacy statement relating to any personal data that may be provided is available for download under the Documents link above.

S.I. No. 534 of 2022 - European Union (District Heating) Regulations 2022