An agricultural biogas facility based in Co. Cork has been fined €15,000 by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for breaches of conditions of its industrial emissions licence.

Timoleague Agri Gen Ltd, based in Barryshall, Timoleague, Co. Cork was prosecuted on Tuesday, February 4 at Clonakilty District Court after pleading guilty to six different breaches of its licence conditions.

The company produces bio-methane gas by taking manure and food processing wastes from the district to create renewable energy and organic fertiliser.

The EPA stated that the company failed to carry out digestate analysis during December 2022 at the frequency specified within the licence. This was for every month where the said licensed installation produces more than 10,000t of digestate per year.

The company was also fined for failing to ensure that digestate complied with the required quality standard.

The impurity content of the digestate was in excess of the Digestate Limit specified at Schedule E within the said licence on or about November 30, 2022 and March 31, 2023.

For the same two periods, the company did not treat digestate that failed to meet the quality standards specified at Schedule E within the said licence as a waste or reuse it in the process. 

The company was also fined for failing to ensure that specified documents were accessible at the site on or about July 13, 2023. This included records of sampling analysis carried out in accordance with the requirements of said licence.

The company was imposed fines by Judge Cody at the court for €2,500 on each of the charges, giving a total fine of €15,000.