Last year, one third of all timber harvested in Irish forests was used for energy generation (Table 1).

Most of this was utilised by sawmills and panel board processors to generate their own energy source with excess energy sold to the national grid.

However, woodchip and pellet production for large- and small-scale wood energy generation continues to increase, as has firewood (Table 2).

Wood energy usage, while modest in Ireland, is growing rapidly. It has major benefits, ranging from import substitution to providing competitively priced renewable wood fuel for localised markets with low transport costs.

Wood energy can play a major role in reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

Apart from carbon sequestration in the forest, “since 2006, the use of wood-biomass energy in Ireland has resulted in an estimated GHG emission saving of 3.67 million tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2)” according to the National Council for Forest Research and Development (COFORD) – the advisory body to the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.

So does this mean that Ireland can be a major wood energy player, like Austria, Sweden and Finland where wood is the main source of renewable energy?

It has the potential because of Ireland’s high forest yield potential – which is three times higher than most European countries.

We also have a further 450,000ha of land suitable for forestry without negatively impacting on agriculture. Ireland could increase forest cover from 11% to 17% by 2030, as envisaged by the 1996 Government forestry strategy.

However, this strategy, which recommended an annual planting programme of 20,000ha, has been abandoned since 2002.

Minimum planting

The annual minimum new planting requirement for a viable wood energy and timber processing industry is 15,000ha, as recommended by COFORD.

Annual afforestation for the past 10 years has been 7,500ha and will only average 6,590ha until 2020.

As a result, Ireland’s forests cannot produce sufficient timber for a sustainable energy and timber processing industry. One has to suffer at the expense of the other.

On current production levels, the pressure will be on the panel board industry, and to a lesser extent sawmills, as COFORD maintains that the wood energy sector will require an annual intake of 1.7 million m3 within six years.

In recent years, wind energy has dominated the renewable energy sector.

Over the period 1990-2012, the share of electricity from renewable energy has increased fourfold, from 4.9% to 19.6%.

Most of this increase has been achieved by the wind energy sector.

Firewood supply continues to increase

Firewood supply has increased from 171,000m3 in 2008 to 230,000m3 last year (Table 2).

It is likely that this is a conservative estimate, as it doesn’t take into account firewood produced by forest owners for their own use.

The number of firewood suppliers has increased over the past few years as more and more householders install wood fuel burners. The quality of firewood produced is of mixed quality and the advice is to purchase from reputable suppliers.

Many of these suppliers have joined the Wood Fuel Quality Assurance (WFQA) scheme.

“This provides a simple but reliable way for consumers to purchase quality wood fuels that are accurately described, meet the supplier’s stated product specifications and are produced in compliance with the EU Timber Regulation,” said Noel Gavigan of the Irish BioEnergy Association (IrBEA).

Nicholas Cotter of Cotter Bros Firewood, who is expecting another busy season, emphasised quality, such as properly dried logs. “For example, it is essential that consumers receive firewood that is under 25% moisture content,” he said. Cotter Bros was one of the first companies to join the WFQA scheme.

Coveney welcomes research publication

Minister Simon Coveney has welcomed the publication of the new Forest Research Ireland (FORI) report, which “meets the needs of Ireland’s forest sector to 2017 and beyond through research and innovation,” according to the minister.

FORI was developed under the auspices of the sector-led COFORD Council Forest Research Working Group, involving a wide diversity of stakeholders and co-ordinated by the research division of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.

“It captures specific policy, knowledge and production-focused research topics and ideas relevant to the needs of forest stakeholders,” said Minister Coveney at the launch.