National Energy Conservation Award for Tobar Naofa Development 

Tralee Town Council has won the 2009 Energy Conservation Award for its new Tobar Naofa housing development at the Chambers Ireland Excellence in Local Government Awards which were held in the Burlington Hotel, Dublin.

The award, presented by Minister John Gormley, was for the centralized wood chip district heating system which was installed in Tobar Naofa, Dean’s Lane  the first phase of the ambitious Mitchel’s-Boherbee Community Regeneration Project.  Tobar Naofa, which was opened officially by Minister Gormley in May 2009 consists of four apartment blocks with a total of 42 apartments which have been designed to “House of Tomorrow” standards. Each apartment has its own heat distribution system and heat meter to allow billing for heat energy consumed from the district heating system. Under-floor heating circuits are both time and temperature controlled to ensure heat is provided to each resident only when required. Heat is distributed to each apartment via the district system from two 500kW wood chip fired boilers located in a common plant room.

While the scheme is initially providing all the heating and domestic hot water requirements for Tobar Naofa, the heating system has been designed to also cater for the heating needs of the nearby County Library, Moyderwell Primary School and a planned day care centre.  The fuel source for this heating system is a sustainable resource that is sourced locally and so, in addition to reducing the exposure of residents to the effects of oil price increases, wood chip utilization also serves to keep money in the local economy.

Given the success of Tobar Naofa’s district heating scheme, Phase II of the Mitchel’s-Boherbee Community Regeneration Project will also incorporate a wood chip district heating scheme. The wider area will benefit from various environmental improvements, remedial works schemes and the development of community allotments. Plans are also underway to develop eleven carbon neutral homes within the regeneration area.

The total cost of the project was €8.5million.  It was funded by the Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government under their Social Housing Investment Programme and a €80,000 grant from Sustainable Energy Ireland (SEI).