A pressing need to decarbonise electricity coupled with a well-designed long-term Government-backed support scheme has been pivotal in developing a healthy pipeline of new wind and solar projects in Ireland.
As such, many are optimistic of reaching the target of 80% renewable electricity by 2030.
Now, the time has come to do the same with the anaerobic digestion (AD) sector, according to industry and Government officials who took part in a panel discussion at the recent IrBEA national bioenergy conference in Kilkenny.
Tony Collins, principal officer at the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications explained that, in terms of renewable heat, we are behind the curve. In 2020, we were at 6.8%, failing to meet our national target of 12%.
In order to address this, as well as developing a new heat policy statement, he again confirmed that an obligation scheme for the heat sector will be in place by 2024, with the second public consultation planned for early 2023.
He said that the rollout of biomethane will play a key role in meeting the obligation, while delivering on the Government’s target of the 5.7TWh of biomethane (10% of natural gas use) by 2030. However, he envisaged that this won’t begin to materialise until the mid-2020s.
Sectoral ceiling emissions
Embedded in the 25% emissions reduction target for agriculture is realising the role that the sector can play in the renewable energy and bioenergy production according to Michelle Kearney, bioenergy policy lead in the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.
She explained that the Department sees the development of a biomethane industry as a valuable land diversification option for farmers, both in terms of income and land activity. The development of the industry will also help the country to meet its chemical fertiliser reduction targets in the Climate Action Plan with the use of digestate, she explained.
Support
When quizzed by IrBEA CEO Seán Finan around what measures were needed to mobilise the industry, she said this will involve a combination of capital and operational supports and aligning policies and finance.
Kearney said that Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue has already agreed to divert carbon tax money for four years towards capital support.
In order to meet the target of 5.7TWh or around 200 AD plants by 2030, this will need to be in the region of €1.5bn in capital funding alone.
She also agreed to the need for ongoing operational support as the viability gap between renewable gas and natural gas is likely to remain in the long term.
“Currently, we look at gas prices and we see that biomethane prices are probably cheaper. But natural gas prices will come down, so there will still be a viability gap which needs to socialised between large gas users,” Kearney said.
Concerns
When asked if the Department has any concerns on the development of the biomethane industry, she said that the industry needs to be developed sustainably by following the sustainability criteria in the renewable energy directive.
“We have seen experiences in other member states where that has not happened and the whole bioenergy agenda has got a bad reputation,” she commented.
Renewable gas will need be certified as sustainable which will need to be audited. According to the SEAI’s programme manager for decarbonised heat, Luis Gay-Tarazona, the SEAI will have a role to play in future sustainability verification.
Kearney also encouraged any developer thinking about getting involved in AD to contact the Department early in the process in relation to animal by-product (ABP) rules as they will likely impact on the planning, scale and design of the plant. ABP regulations outline a robust set of rules for biomethane plants, which ensure biosecurity where wastes and byproducts from animals are used. This includes slurry from farms.
The importance of this was also echoed by IrBEA’s Noel Gavigan who explained that ABP rules determine what can be classed as a “farm plant”.
Essentially, if a plant takes in animal wastes from other farms, then they must adhere to the full set of ABP rules. Whereas a farm AD plant, which uses a single source of animal waste, only has to adhere to a simplified version of ABP rules.
EPA – where does it stand?
One of the most notable contributions to the panel discussion was from Laura Burke, director general of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
She said that the EPA did its own research on AD close to 20 years ago and that it thinks the technology is a win-win for the industry.
“You look at other countries across Europe and it’s just part of the norm. There are barriers here, but I don’t think there are environmental barriers once they are operated appropriately,” she said.
Laura Burke, director general of the Environmental Protection Agency.
Burke told attendees that she finds it strange that the AD industry hasn’t developed already as there is such potential and its proven technology.
“You have to come to the conclusion that it in not appreciated. I think it is appreciated at a technical level but probably not at a policy level,” she said. “The EPA certainly tried to do their bit through highlighting it at the research level,” she continued.
Burke did acknowledge though that there are still economic challenges and said: “If this was economically viable it would already be done.
“We’re constantly on the cusp of something about to happen and it feels like that again today,” were the opening remarks from Gas Networks Ireland’s (GNI) biomethane programme manager Padraig Flemming who spoke on the panel discussion.
Flemming explains that despite the policy uncertainty, GNI has been busy preparing for the development of the industry and now has an AD connections policy in place.
The Department of Agriculture thinks AD will provide diversification options for farmers .
He said that within the connections policy, GNI only charges AD developers 30% of the cost of connecting to the grid.
GNI covers the rest subject to a number of economic tests. “It’s quite an attractive proposition. The nearest is France with a 40% connection charge,” he explains.
He told attendees that Ireland has very good support mechanisms which have worked well for wind and solar and that he doesn’t understand why those have not been adopted for the AD industry.
Stephen Robb caught up with IrBEA CEO Seán Finan about the main highlights from this year’s national bioenergy conference. Listen below.
A pressing need to decarbonise electricity coupled with a well-designed long-term Government-backed support scheme has been pivotal in developing a healthy pipeline of new wind and solar projects in Ireland.
As such, many are optimistic of reaching the target of 80% renewable electricity by 2030.
Now, the time has come to do the same with the anaerobic digestion (AD) sector, according to industry and Government officials who took part in a panel discussion at the recent IrBEA national bioenergy conference in Kilkenny.
Tony Collins, principal officer at the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications explained that, in terms of renewable heat, we are behind the curve. In 2020, we were at 6.8%, failing to meet our national target of 12%.
In order to address this, as well as developing a new heat policy statement, he again confirmed that an obligation scheme for the heat sector will be in place by 2024, with the second public consultation planned for early 2023.
He said that the rollout of biomethane will play a key role in meeting the obligation, while delivering on the Government’s target of the 5.7TWh of biomethane (10% of natural gas use) by 2030. However, he envisaged that this won’t begin to materialise until the mid-2020s.
Sectoral ceiling emissions
Embedded in the 25% emissions reduction target for agriculture is realising the role that the sector can play in the renewable energy and bioenergy production according to Michelle Kearney, bioenergy policy lead in the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.
She explained that the Department sees the development of a biomethane industry as a valuable land diversification option for farmers, both in terms of income and land activity. The development of the industry will also help the country to meet its chemical fertiliser reduction targets in the Climate Action Plan with the use of digestate, she explained.
Support
When quizzed by IrBEA CEO Seán Finan around what measures were needed to mobilise the industry, she said this will involve a combination of capital and operational supports and aligning policies and finance.
Kearney said that Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue has already agreed to divert carbon tax money for four years towards capital support.
In order to meet the target of 5.7TWh or around 200 AD plants by 2030, this will need to be in the region of €1.5bn in capital funding alone.
She also agreed to the need for ongoing operational support as the viability gap between renewable gas and natural gas is likely to remain in the long term.
“Currently, we look at gas prices and we see that biomethane prices are probably cheaper. But natural gas prices will come down, so there will still be a viability gap which needs to socialised between large gas users,” Kearney said.
Concerns
When asked if the Department has any concerns on the development of the biomethane industry, she said that the industry needs to be developed sustainably by following the sustainability criteria in the renewable energy directive.
“We have seen experiences in other member states where that has not happened and the whole bioenergy agenda has got a bad reputation,” she commented.
Renewable gas will need be certified as sustainable which will need to be audited. According to the SEAI’s programme manager for decarbonised heat, Luis Gay-Tarazona, the SEAI will have a role to play in future sustainability verification.
Kearney also encouraged any developer thinking about getting involved in AD to contact the Department early in the process in relation to animal by-product (ABP) rules as they will likely impact on the planning, scale and design of the plant. ABP regulations outline a robust set of rules for biomethane plants, which ensure biosecurity where wastes and byproducts from animals are used. This includes slurry from farms.
The importance of this was also echoed by IrBEA’s Noel Gavigan who explained that ABP rules determine what can be classed as a “farm plant”.
Essentially, if a plant takes in animal wastes from other farms, then they must adhere to the full set of ABP rules. Whereas a farm AD plant, which uses a single source of animal waste, only has to adhere to a simplified version of ABP rules.
EPA – where does it stand?
One of the most notable contributions to the panel discussion was from Laura Burke, director general of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
She said that the EPA did its own research on AD close to 20 years ago and that it thinks the technology is a win-win for the industry.
“You look at other countries across Europe and it’s just part of the norm. There are barriers here, but I don’t think there are environmental barriers once they are operated appropriately,” she said.
Laura Burke, director general of the Environmental Protection Agency.
Burke told attendees that she finds it strange that the AD industry hasn’t developed already as there is such potential and its proven technology.
“You have to come to the conclusion that it in not appreciated. I think it is appreciated at a technical level but probably not at a policy level,” she said. “The EPA certainly tried to do their bit through highlighting it at the research level,” she continued.
Burke did acknowledge though that there are still economic challenges and said: “If this was economically viable it would already be done.
“We’re constantly on the cusp of something about to happen and it feels like that again today,” were the opening remarks from Gas Networks Ireland’s (GNI) biomethane programme manager Padraig Flemming who spoke on the panel discussion.
Flemming explains that despite the policy uncertainty, GNI has been busy preparing for the development of the industry and now has an AD connections policy in place.
The Department of Agriculture thinks AD will provide diversification options for farmers .
He said that within the connections policy, GNI only charges AD developers 30% of the cost of connecting to the grid.
GNI covers the rest subject to a number of economic tests. “It’s quite an attractive proposition. The nearest is France with a 40% connection charge,” he explains.
He told attendees that Ireland has very good support mechanisms which have worked well for wind and solar and that he doesn’t understand why those have not been adopted for the AD industry.
Stephen Robb caught up with IrBEA CEO Seán Finan about the main highlights from this year’s national bioenergy conference. Listen below.
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