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Almost 7.5m tonnes of grass will be required by Gas Networks Ireland (GNI) to fuel local anaerobic digesters (AD) by 2030, with raw silage valued at €28/t at today’s rates.
“The average requirement of an AD facility is about 35,000t per annum, using one-third raw slurry and two-thirds raw silage,” Gas Networks Ireland innovation manager Ian Kilgallon said.
“A typical dairy farm wouldn’t be big enough to produce that on their own. You’d be looking at a co-operative model, where each facility would be a company in its own right.
“The AD operator gets their income from the sale of gas, and then pays other local farmers who help to supply materials.
“It could be an additional, guaranteed income stream for farmers. Our assumption is that about 340 AD plants will be in operation by 2030, and that will help to deliver an 8% reduction to greenhouse gas production in Ireland,” he said.
Kilgallon also addressed any concerns farmers may have that grass supply would be monopolised by a local AD facility.: “The volume of grass that they [AD plant] would need would only be about 4% in a 10km radius of the plant.”
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