TDs and senators on the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment were informed that the Irish anaerobic digestion (AD) sector is lagging well behind other European countries.
The committee met yesterday (Tuesday, July 5) and heard from several stakeholder groups, including the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) and the Renewable Gas Forum Ireland (RGFI).
IFA president Tim Cullinan told the committee that Ireland’s adaption of renewable technologies generally is well below the European average.
In 2018, Ireland ranked 23rd out of the 27 EU countries for generation of renewable energy from agriculture, producing just 2.6% of our renewable energy in this way, compared to a 12.1% average across the EU.
“AD is a natural fit for Ireland considering our large livestock industry and the availability of manures,” Cullinan argued.
Livestock manure, as well as silage, is a major feedstock in the process of creating biomethane through AD.
“Given the mounting pressure to decarbonise the agriculture sector coupled with the continuing pressure to meet our renewable transport and heat targets, AD provides a real solution,” he added.
The IFA president noted that, while AD plants are up and running on a significant scale throughout Europe, their deployment in Ireland has been “very limited” to date, with only a handful of commercial scale AD plants developed.
He said:
“Ireland lags well behind our European neighbours in biomethane production and urgent action is required to incentivise and support farmers and rural communities to deploy the technology in order to reduce emissions and support Ireland’s transition to a low-carbon energy system.”
The IFA president called for the barriers to the adoption of AD to be removed, citing the financial vulnerability of many farms as the biggest impediment.
“Financial vulnerability has a large impact on the ability of farmers to adopt more sustainable practices as it limits their ability to test new practices and stifles innovation due to financial constraints,” Cullinan said.
He added: “Creating a viable alternative revenue stream for farmers is vital if the sector is to reduce emissions without negatively impacting the rural economy.”
The RGFI also highlighted Ireland’s lack of progress on AD, saying we “lag well behind other EU member states in not having policy and legislation to support the establishment of an indigenous biomethane industry”.
The group’s CEO, PJ McCarthy, cited research from Teagasc which confirmed that there is between two and four million tonnes of sustainable feedstock for AD biomethane available in Ireland.
He added: “Momentum is gathering in Ireland to embrace sustainable indigenous biomethane and related biofertiliser production.”
McCarthy also argued that, with proper government policy and support, AD-produced biomethane has the potential to replace natural gas in a way that is “technically feasible and commercially viable”.
This, in turn, would “provide farmers with a diverse, reliable income stream; support the development of a circular, rural bioeconomy with opportunities to diversify into sustainable biomethane and biofertiliser production; and support the commercial sustainability and competiveness of the Irish agri-food and drinks processing industries”.