A public consultation on the National Biomethane Strategy has been launched today, with submissions being received up to February 27.
The strategy, which has been in the pipeline for several months without an exact timeline of its launch being confirmed, will undergo the four week consultation before any further developments on its finalisation.
According to the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications, the strategy is the “first key step” to deliver on targets for developing a biomethane industry in Ireland, as outlined in the Climate Action Plan, which aims to generate 5.7TWh/year – or 10% of Ireland’s total natural gas demand – by 2030.
The strategy is co-developed by that department and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.
A draft version of the National Biomethane Strategy has been published, with feedback sought from interested parties by 5:30pm on February 27.
The Department of Environment is seeking views on “key actions to be undertaken” to develop a biomethane industry of scale in Ireland.
“We are committed to engaging with stakeholders in a clear, open, and transparent manner. No final decisions have been made in relation to the draft strategy, or how it will be implemented,” the department said.
Biomethane strategy
The draft National Biomethane Strategy says that a biomethane industry here can help the agriculture sector meet its emissions reduction targets of 25% by 2030.
“These opportunities with biomethane for agriculture include diversification opportunities for livestock farmers; reduced emissions from animal wastes; biobased fertiliser replacing chemical fertiliser; and carbon sequestration on land,” the strategy says.
It also says that, to achieve this, appropriate infrastructure; promoting sustainable and innovative farming practices; and supporting policies that incentivise the adoption of biomethane are needed, and that collaboration “similar to the co-operative model” between farmers and biomethane producers is key.
According to the strategy, providing feedstock for anaerobic digestion (AD) can be a viable income diversification option for farmers, but only if factors like the initially high investment costs; regulatory and permitting costs; and the need for technical expertise are addressed.
There is also the opportunity for the creation of biobased fertiliser to partially offset the need for chemical fertilisers, with the decrease in agricultural emissions noted in 2022 largely resulting from a reduction in fertiliser usage throughout that year.
The strategy envisages that most developments towards a biomethane industry in Ireland will be in rural areas, and, therefore, will see an increase in employment opportunities in rural Ireland.
Strategy scenarios
The strategy outlines three scenarios for the future of a biomethane industry in Ireland.
These are:
- Scenario 1 – Widespread deployment: In this scenario there will be a large number of smaller, farm-scale AD facilities, requiring transport of biomethane to grid injection infrastructure or end users. While this option would involve the most farmers and rural communities, it would increase the price for their gas due to production costs;
- Scenario 2 – Current policies only: In this scenario the state does not make any changes to its current policies on biomethane. This scenario would be unlikely to meet Ireland biomethane production targets by 2030;
- Scenario 3 – Economic deployment: This scenario would involve a smaller number of larger plants, requiring less infrastructure, and offering gas at a lower price. The strategy regards this as the preferred scenario.
Biomethane is produced though the process of AD of organic feedstocks. Feedstocks that can be provided from the agriculture sector include plant material (such as silage) and animal manure, particularly slurry.
The strategy envisages the equal use of silage and slurry as feedstocks in an at-scale biomethane industry.
The strategy also states that producing feedstock for biomethane from farms is not meant to compete with food production, and that each farm business will make decisions based on their own socio-economic circumstances.
However, the strategy also outlined the requirement that producing feedstocks from agriculture does not result in any further intensification of farming.
In terms of planning, the strategy would require the Department of Agriculture, along with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, to develop a standardised code of practice for local authorities to be followed when assessing AD and biorefining planning applications.
The draft strategy went on to outline that the Department of Agriculture will require additional resources to handle the expected large increase in applications for operating licences from plants involved in the process of AD of animal by-products.