It has been a busy week for the anaerobic digestion (AD) sector, with multiple new planning applications submitted and public consultations held on plants.

The plants in question are large-scale, mostly agricultural, and will produce biomethane for injection into or transportation to the gas grid.

It is no secret that Ireland’s planning system is difficult, particularly when it comes to AD plants. Our planning system encourages the participation of the general public who are openly invited to log their concerns or object to a proposed development if they so wish.

This can be a useful measure of public acceptance of a plant in an area. However, it has been well-documented that some actors are exploiting this system for payment or other benefits from developers, a situation that will be difficult to crack down on.

Furthermore, just because someone objects to a project doesn’t automatically mean it should not proceed. There must be valid reasons, based on sound criteria, for refusing a planning application, and these criteria should be consistently applied across all local authorities.

This is not currently the case and there are significant variations in the level of knowledge, skills, and expertise among local planners when assessing the merits of a project.

This inconsistency has resulted in some applications breezing through the planning process, while others were refused for unsubstantiated reasons, forcing farmers and developers to appeal and adding years to the project timeline.

The experience of AD planning so far raises questions about the likelihood of actually being able to build a network of new plants in this country.

The developers are not blameless either; it is up to them to ensure that the right type of project is situated in the appropriate location and does not cause significant disruption to the local community.

It is solely the developer’s responsibility to communicate this to the public through public consultations to fully inform the community about what they are proposing.

Community engagement

Indeed, poor community engagement has led to the creation of many anti-biogas groups around the country.

If a developer fails to at least hold a public meeting and tries to push the application through without informing neighbours, you would question whether they will ever have the social licence to operate that facility in the area.

Planning permission proved to be a hot topic at last month’s RGFI Renewable Gas Conference. Kieran Tarpey of Entrust Planning spoke at the conference and explained the process around planning.

He emphasised that proper site location is imperative to a successful planning application, but finding the ideal location, particularly in a rural area, is challenging.

Kieran noted that AD is well-suited to rural areas where similar existing farm infrastructure, such as covered tanks and sheds, already exists.

Typically, AD plants should be within 5km of the national gas grid and 10km from the land which will be used for feedstock and digestate management.

The site should also be away from sensitive areas, like Natura 2000 sites and not immediately close to natural water streams or watercourses.

Feasibility

Kieran explained that their first step in the process is a feasibility study, which reviews several environmental considerations for an area.

This includes aspects such as the ecological impact, heritage concerns, residential areas, flood risk, landscape, planning history and the mitigation actions required.

The next step is to hold a pre-application meeting with the planning authority. Any issues or concerns identified in the feasibility study should be addressed during this pre-planning meeting.

When asked about the challenge of getting a planning application through the planning system, Kieran stated that national guidelines on AD are needed.

However, he noted that these guidelines take considerable time to develop and may not be delivered in time, given the number of plants that need to be built.

Drawing from his experience in other sectors, Kieran suggested that a circular issued by the Department of Housing to local authorities and An Bord Pleanála could be useful.

This circular would outline what the technology entails and provide factual information on potential impacts such as noise, odour, transport etc.

“A circular can be done relatively quickly and can be issued to planning authorities. It can carry significant weight for determining planning applications,” he said.

“The objective of a circular is to inform planning authorities when they are assessing planning applications that land on their desk, and the aim would also be to have a consistent approach across different planning authorities,” he added.

The author Stephen Robb is currently involved in a family/community proposal for an anaerobic digestion facility in Co Donegal

Beef farmer Brugha Duffy, who also works as an engineer, farms in Duleek, Co Meath. In 2018, he and his tillage and beef farmer neighbour Donal Hartford began their journey into AD.

Brugha (pictured), who spoke at the recent RGFI conference, told attendees that he began looking into AD as a farm diversification option.

After exploring smaller-scale plants, it became clear that a larger scale was necessary to make biomethane production viable. In 2019, he began working with Irish AD developer Carbon AMS to design the plant.

They submitted their planning application in 2021 and received planning permission in 2022. The 40GWh AD plant is set to run on grass, wholecrop cereals, beet and slurry. Brugha explained that several farms will supply feedstock to the plant under a feedstock contract and there is plenty of interest from farmers in the area.

Consultation

“Prior to actually submitting the application, we made a point of going around to all the neighbours,” he said. He explained that they were lucky there was no pushback, with many neighbours seeing it as an opportunity. “Yes, some would be concerned over competition for land, but sure if I started to set up a dairy farm in the area that’s the same thing, so I don’t think that should be the reason to prevent it” he said.

Expectations

“I think from a farmer’s perspective, before you go down the road of AD, you need to decide what you want from it,” he said. “When we started working with Carbon AMS, we knew we wanted to be involved in feeding it, running it and operating it,” Brugha said.

“This is not a simple process. You’re going to have to employ consultants with experience to do this, and you will need advice,” he continued. “You need to find someone who knows what they’re doing, someone who has seen the mistakes in the past to avoid them now” he said.

When asked if he had any advice, he said: “If you think it’s going to take a month, it’ll be six, and everything costs a fortune. But from our perspective, we’ve been lucky. It has worked out well.”

“We got through planning, we’re happy with the partners and I think we’re progressing as well as we could at this stage. Hopefully, we’ll get up and running pretty quickly” he concluded.