The Support Scheme for Renewable Heat (SSRH) in the making for over a decade opened this week. Minister for Climate Action Richard Bruton said farmers and businesses switching to biomass or biogas would give €300m under 15-year contracts.Irish Bioenergy Association chief executive Sean Finan said this would first benefit forestry, offering an outlet for Irish pulpwood and residues.
The Support Scheme for Renewable Heat (SSRH) in the making for over a decade opened this week. Minister for Climate Action Richard Bruton said farmers and businesses switching to biomass or biogas would give €300m under 15-year contracts.
Irish Bioenergy Association chief executive Sean Finan said this would first benefit forestry, offering an outlet for Irish pulpwood and residues.
“There’s a lot of talk about imports, but because of investment in forestry since the 1990s we have a huge amount coming on stream in the coming years,” he said. Grants for short-rotation crops such as willow are needed for farmers to grow them, he added.
IFA renewables chair Tom Short said the SSRH remained part of a “piecemeal” policy, especially the low support offered for biogas, which “undermines the long-term financial viability of many of these projects to the extent that financial institutions have no interest in funding them”.
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