A new biogas project planned for mid-Tipperary is seeking for farmers to supply it with slurry and other manures.

Leon Mekitarian from Genos Resources is calling on dairy, beef, pig and poultry farmers and horse owners within 50km of Thurles.

Genos plans to build a large biogas plant in the county, which will convert slurry to hydrogen gas through a €120m anaerobic digestion plant.

We will pay farmers the market value rate for the nutrients within the slurry based on Teagasc values

Mekitarian says that farmers who sign up to the company will be paid for providing the slurry and will also get some shares in the company.

“We will pay farmers the market value rate for the nutrients within the slurry based on Teagasc values. All transport costs to the plant will be paid by the company,” Mekitarian told the Irish Farmers Journal.

Farmers will be asked to sign a 15-year contract agreement

Farmers who supply the plant with manure will be able to buy back the resulting digestate in dried granular form at a 10% discount, he said.

According to Mekitarian, the company is looking to sign up to 500 farmers over the next few months. Farmers will be asked to sign a 15-year contract agreement.

Genos Resources plc is a new company formed in April 2021. The company directors are listed as Patrick Moran from Co Wicklow, a serial renewable energy promoter, and Michael Bustany from Co Antrim, a financial adviser.

While the company uses the term plc, Genos Resources is not listed on the Dublin or London stock exchange.

Leon Mekitarian is originally from Waterford and was previously managing director of a biogas plant at Crouchland Farm in Sussex, England, which was shut down in 2017. He is not listed as a director of Genos Resources Ltd.