Minister Bruton to Submit Draft National Energy and Climate Plan to European Commission

The Minister for Communications, Climate Action and the Environment, Richard Bruton T.D. yesterday the first draft of Ireland’s National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP). It will now be submitted to the European Commission. A final plan will have to be submitted in twelve months’ time. From then on, all member states will be required to outline their energy and climate policies in detail each year, for the period 2021 to 2030, and onwards to 2050. IrBEA will take time to review this document and revert back to members for feedback in the new year.
The link to draft NECP plan is available here.

Publication of CRM Supported Capacity Mandatory Status Consultation Paper

The latest news from the SEM Committee is the CRM Consultation Paper which looks at concerns raised by market participants regarding an interaction between REFIT and supported dispatchable generation capacity’s mandatory participation status in the CRM. The purpose of this consultation paper is to look at this issue and proposed possible options. Responses to the consultation paper should be sent by 17.00 on Friday, 11 January 2019.
SEM-18-176: CRM Supported Capacity Mandatory Status Consultation Paper – the document can be found here

Installation of Ireland’s first Renewable Gas Injection Facility

Installation of Ireland’s first Renewable Gas injection facility is underway this week with the Grid Injection Unit delivery from Thyson Technologies to the site at Cush, Co Kildare. NRGE are the Project Team for this installation. The installation will be capable of injecting 10 million M3 of renewable gas annually. It is a small step on the road to meeting Ireland’s carbon reduction commitments.

Seán Finan Talks to Agriland About Irish Bioenergy Association and the Potential for Biogas

Calls are mounting for a biogas industry to be rolled out nationwide in a bid to bolster farm incomes and reduce Ireland’s agricultural carbon footprint. This week sees episode 15 of Farmland, Seán Finan, the CEO of the Irish Bioenergy Association (IrBEA) urges the Government to develop policy and financial supports to bolster the sector. IrBEA believes a biogas  industry could sustain rural economies into the future. He talks in details about IRBEA role in developing the bioenergy sector in the Island of Ireland both north and south, he also focuses on the imminent launch of the Support Scheme for Renewable Heat. View this 15 minute interview covering a wide range of topics between Claire McCormack and  Seán Finan here

IrBEA Submission to National Energy and Climate Plan Consultation

Members can find the IrBEA submission to the National Energy and Climate Plan Consultation here. We would like to thank all the members who provided feedback for inclusion in the document. If any member has any queries on any aspect of the submission please feel free to contact Seán Finan at seanfinan@irbea.org

Report from Biochar & Activated Carbon Conference


The Irish BioEnergy Association (IrBEA) and the Western Development Commission (WDC) are the Irish partners in the Interreg North West European project called RE-DIRECT . This project  supports turning waste, low value or residual biomass into high value carbon products such as Biochar and Activated Carbon.
As part of the project, IrBEA and the WDC hosted a conference recently in Claremorris around the areas of biochar and activated carbon and the potential they could hold for the region. The event brought 70 attendees from around Ireland and across Europe including international experts as well as regional and national stakeholders. Sean Finan, CEO of the Irish Bioenergy Association said, ‘we want to highlight the potential that biochar holds for agriculture, how an indigenous source of activated carbon could help improve our water quality as well as how biomass can be utilised for carbon sequestration and energy purposes.’
The vision is to establish regional hubs where biomass from the surrounding areas can be converted into biochar or activated carbon. These are charcoal-like materials that are very porous with large internal surface areas and a high capacity to absorb contaminants. This makes them useful for a wide variety of applications ranging from waste water treatment to soil amendment and remediation, to gas cleaning. The innovative pyrolysis technology used can also produce a clean renewable fuel.
Press from the Event – Turning Low Value Biomass into High Value Activated Carbon
The 11 project partners from RE-DIRECT are from Belgium, UK, France, Wales, Germany and Ireland. This technology has been developed at a pilot site at the Baden-Baden City’s Environmental Division in Germany and under this project a 20,000 t/year plant will be built to assist the filtration of the municipal water. In Wales last week a IFBB (integrated generation of solid fuel and biogas from biomass) plant has arrived from Scotland and delivered to our Welsh Partners at Cwn Harry Trust to be installed on their farm site.

Danish Bioenergy Delegation hosted in Ireland by Danish Embassy, IrBEA & 3CEA

IrBEA along with Deloitte invited personnel from the Bioenergy sector to an early morning breakfast briefing recently. Participants received information on funding opportunities for research and also funding for renewable energy project developments. Speakers included Pat Martin – Department of Communications Climate Action & Environment who talked about the Life Funding Programme,   Brian McDonnell from Deloitte discussed the primary RD&I funding available in Ireland including tax incentives and grants and Joanne Sheehan from Enterprise Ireland  also spoke and focused on  Enterprise Ireland funding opportunities. This event was well attended and was useful to companies planning or involved in innovative projects who wished to learn more about potential research and development funding options and efficient taxation management.  The presentations can be viewed here