New IrBEA Members for 2017

We would like to take this opportunity to welcome all new members to IrBEA in 2017 (companies listed below). As an association supporting the development and deployment of sustainable bioenergy, we look forward to collaborating with all IrBEA members to help drive the growth of the bioenergy industry in Ireland.

2017 IrBEA Bioenergy Conference – View live video 09/02/17

Padraic O’Neill – IrBEA Secretary

Matthew Clancy – Sustainable Energy Association Ireland

David Connolly – Irish Wind Energy Association

Tom Bruton – BioXL

Derek Milton – Fehily Timoney

Garrett Monaghan – Arthur Cox

Russell Smyth – KPMG

Francesco Panzeri – Demetra

Frank Donnelly – Keenaghan Mushrooms

IrBEA RHI Consultation March 2017 – Submission

Please find the link here to the response to the Public Consultation on the design and implementation of a renewable heat incentive in Ireland on behalf of the Irish Bioenergy Association (IrBEA). These detailed responses are based on the responses co-ordinated by the IrBEA RHI Working Group on behalf of it’s members and those who responded accordingly to each of the questions raised concerning the design options for the RHI.

As an association supporting the development and deployment of sustainable bioenergy, we look forward to seeing the outcomes of the this consultation process and are hopeful that we will see a well-designed RHI scheme in place for 2017 that will drive growth and stimulate the bioenergy industry in Ireland towards 2020 and beyond.

Field-trip to Finland hosted by Bioenergy4Business

Teresa O’Brien, IRBEA’s Communications Manager took time out to take part in trip organised by Motiva from Finland. It was organised under the project Bioenergy4Business which  invited people from all over Europe to view biomass heat and power plants large and small in Finland. Delegates from Finland, Ireland, Greece, Ukraine and Crete were represented. We viewed many biomass plants of varying sizes and functions. An impressive newly built (2015) district heating plant (50 MW) in Tampere with the very latest technology & automation system. It was serviced with woodchip delivery trucks arrive every 3 hours during the day to supply the demand. We met with several heating entrepreneurs, one supplying heat via a woodchip boiler  to a cement factory and local industrial park, with an investment of 4 km of pipes to supply his clients. Another entrepreneur supplied a school and sports hall with his 2 x1 MWH Faust boilers running adjacent to one another with the old school oil boiler used as backup. We are dealing with a completely different energy model in Finland but there are lessons to be learnt – one of the examples that stood out was the ease at which young entrepreneurs can source financing for small heat plants (10MW) with payback period for the investment around about 10 years. We have to consider with these numbers that in Finland wood-chip fired heating is estimated to be one-third cheaper than oil – unfortunately this is not the case in Ireland right now. If you are interested in reading the field notes and seeing photos, view here