Energy Efficiency Lighting Programme

Uisce Éireann has completed an energy efficient lighting programme at 5 plants reducing carbon emissions by up to 240 tonnes per year.

Uisce Éireann, working in partnership with Dublin City Council, Fingal County Council, Kildare County Council and Meath County Council, has completed an energy efficiency retrofit programme at five treatment plants. These upgrades comprised the installation of energy efficient lighting systems at plants in Leixlip, Ballymore Eustace, Swords, Malahide and Navan. 

This project has retrofitted the inefficient lighting systems at the plants to more energy efficient systems, reducing energy consumption and carbon emissions by up to 240 tonnes per year. This project has been delivered by Cantwell Electrical Engineering Ltd. on behalf of Uisce Éireann, with the works completed in Q4 2019

• Replaced inefficient fluorescent lights, metal halide floodlights and other fixtures with more efficient LED lighting fixtures and smart lighting control features.
• Retrofitted a total of 1,383 energy efficient lighting fittings.
• Integrated occupancy sensors and smart control features.

• Significantly improve energy efficiency at the plants, reducing energy demands by up to 0.55 GWh per year. This is equivalent to the electricity required to power 131 houses per year.
• Reduce greenhouse gas emissions, which equate to a 240 tonnes reduction in carbon emissions per year.
• Reduce operational costs due to reduced energy consumption.
• Reduce operational costs as the LED fittings have a lifetime of 100,000 operating hours and it is estimated that the retrofits will continue to provide energy savings for up to 20 years.

This project is part of Uisce Éireann's energy efficiency programme which upgrades, replaces and optimises inefficient plants and processes across the country to improve our energy efficiency and reduce carbon emissions.

Following the successful implementation of this energy efficiency lighting programme, Uisce Éireann has plans to implement similar energy efficiency retrofits at treatment plants across the country, with upgrades expected to commence in 2021.

This programme has been delivered as part of Uisce Éireann's commitment to improve our energy efficiency. Improving energy efficiency is a key sustainability measure for improving our carbon footprint and reducing our greenhouse gas emissions. We have made significant progress in our journey to become an energy efficient, low carbon, sustainable water utility.

By 2019, we achieved over 30% improvement in our energy efficiency performance with a corresponding saving of over 90,000 tonnes of carbon. We are on track to meet our target of 33% energy efficiency improvement, putting us in a strong position to meet our new target of 50% by 2030.