Bord na Mona is planning to build a wood pellet plant in the US state of Georgia to import biomass into Ireland, a spokesperson for the semi-state company told the Irish Farmers Journal.

The investment is understood to be worth €60m. Bord na Mona’s drive to convert its power stations to use energy crops should ultimately create an outlet for Irish farmers, with demand for biomass growing from 450,000t last year to 1.2mt in 2020.

But “in the near future, the majority will be imported while we develop a domestic industry”, Patrick Madigan, head of Bord na Mona Bioenergy, said at the National Ploughing Championships on Wednesday.