Construction begins on largest biomethane plant in country
Construction has begun on a biomethane plant in Little Island, which is set to be Ireland’s biggest by the time the €80 million construction is completed.
The facility is set to process 90,000 tonnes of domestic and commercial food and garden waste annually. It will produce 40,000 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent annually - tCO2e/annum - a standard unit of measurement to express the impact of different greenhouse gases such as methane, nitrous oxide, and others as a single value.
It will deliver more than 80GWh of renewable biomethane annually to the Irish national grid, which will meaningfully contribute to the government’s 2030 targets under the National Biomethane Strategy.
The project is being developed by Stream BioEnergy Ltd, which operates similar plants across the UK and Ireland. Its facilities account for 450 gigawatt hour (GWh) of renewable energy capacity across the two countries.
This renewable gas will replace the use of fossil fuels in hard to abate sectors such as heating and transport. It will also produce sustainable biofertilisers by recycling nutrients from food waste, thereby supporting more sustainable farming and food production.
The project is also positioned to supply renewable biomethane into Ireland’s forthcoming Renewable Heat Obligation (RHO) scheme.
The RHO scheme is a proposed policy which will require heat fuel suppliers to include a growing share of renewable energy to decarbonise heat and support climate targets.
Kevin Fitzduff, co-founder of Stream BioEnergy, said that the project comes at a time when Ireland is under enormous pressure to decarbonise its heat and transport sectors.
“This project will significantly contribute to Ireland’s decarbonisation efforts and make the country a more energy secure environment in which to live and conduct business,” he said.
He said that the Government needs to reach an agreement quickly with the European Commission on the RHO to ensure that Ireland’s biomethane sector is protected “and can grow long term”.
He said that restrictions on imports to only unsubsidised biomethane was necessary to ensure that “historically subsidised European supply from undermining Irish-produced biomethane and giving the domestic sector the support it needs to scale”.
A significant proportion of the €80 million will be spent on local civil, mechanical, and electrical contractors.
Once operational the facility is expected to generate around €4 million annually in local expenditure.
The project will also create more than 100 construction jobs and more than 20 operational roles at the facility, along with a range of jobs across the project supply chain.