Most European countries with viable renewable energy sectors have adopted mixed energy sources to reduce their dependence on fossil fuels, including bioenergy, hydropower, wind and solar. Apart from countries lucky enough to be able to harness hydro electricity, other renewable sources are often combined to produce a mixed renewable energy programme. For example, Austria, relies mainly on wood biomass and hydroelectric power, while Demark continues to be a leader in wind energy and bioenergy with solar energy also as an option.

A mixed renewable energy programme makes sense and Denmark places strong emphasis on wood biomass as an energy source in its own right and also as backup power for times when the wind is not blowing and the sun is not shining.

Ireland lags well behind countries such as Austria, Denmark, Sweden and Finland in developing renewable energy. The emphasis continues to be placed on wind energy in Ireland, but wood biomass may have been underestimated in its ability to increase Ireland’s EU renewable energy target from 6% to 12% of total energy demand by 2020. Denmark, in contrast, which has a similar population to Ireland – north and south – and forest cover of 13% is developing bioenergy in tandem with wind energy to achieve a 100% green energy source by 2050.

Wood biomass is beginning to make an impact in Ireland’s renewable energy market and signs of this are appearing in the most unlikely places. In Clonroche, Co Wexford, for example, up to 15,000m3 of timber is carefully stacked in a field, awaiting removal to clients who have decided to heat their factories and plants with renewable wood fuel rather than fossil fuels.

The Clonroche storage depot is one of several Coillte biomass supply hubs across the country that produces wood chips in accordance with the EU specifications set out in IS CEN/TS 14961:2005. This is an EU quality standard that ensures efficient and trouble-free operation of wood-fired heating systems.

“Coillte is now underpinning the future renewable energy needs of the industrial heat sector and has been actively working with its customers to reduce carbon dioxide emissions,” said Des O’Toole, the company’s commercial biomass business development manager. “With this new hub in the southeast, Coillte is committed to its strategy that matches local renewable energy requirements with local biomass supply and pulp feed stock,” he said. “These are now sourced from both Coillte and private forestry plantations from the surrounding counties.”

He said that many of Coillte clients have a global ambition to become carbon neutral across the value chain from sourcing raw materials to manufacturing, product use and eventual product disposal. “Carbon neutrality can be achieved, through reducing the value chain carbon footprint followed by pursuing carbon-offsetting strategies to reduce the net emissions to zero,” he maintained.

While he believed that Ireland will fall short of its renewable energy target by 2020, he said the introduction of the long overdue renewable heat incentive due later this year “will increase the expected demand for biomass for energy, acting as a much needed catalyst for the mobilisation of our private forestry resources”.

Ensuring wood fuel quality

The Clonroche timber storage depot is the source of wood chip production which meets the EU standard IS CEN/TS 14961:2005. In addition, Ireland also has a quality scheme, which ensures that wood fuel suppliers deliver products that meet the highest standards. The Wood Fuel Quality Assurance (WFQA) scheme provides a simple but reliable way for consumers to purchase quality wood fuels that are accurately described and meet the supplier’s stated product specifications.

“Using the WFQA scheme ensures that customers can match the correct grade of wood fuel to their wood-burning appliances to optimise the efficiency and heating of their units,” said a spokesperson from the Irish Bioenergy Association, which initiated the scheme. There are now 17 certified wood fuel suppliers in Ireland and these are listed on the WFQA website (www.wfqa.org).

Forest certification is a voluntary process to reassure consumers that wood and wood products are sourced from sustainably managed forests. The forests of the main timber suppliers in Ireland – Coillte, the Forest Service Northern Ireland and the Irish Forestry Unit Trust – are certified to internationally recognised Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and Pan European Forest Certification (PEFC ) standards.

The first step in the certification process begins in the forest and continues throughout the wood chain to include timber processing to end products such as paper and furniture.

Up until recently, private timber suppliers didn’t require certification as timber processors could certify all their products provided they sourced at least 70% of logs from certified forests. However, private supply is now close to 30% of all production so sawmills and panel board mills wishing to retain chain of custody certification will no longer be in a position to process logs from uncertified forests once this threshold is exceeded.

This means that private owners will need to achieve certification under either the PEFC or FSC schemes. Certification is achieved after forests are independently assessed and approved as achieving an internationally agreed sustainable forest management (SFM) standard. While forest management has to conform with Ireland’s strict regulatory requirements, SFM is even more stringent.

As a result, it is a costly and time-consuming process, and currently out of the reach of forest owners with small plantations.

Sustainable Forest Management Ireland (SFMI) is hosting a conference on forest management certification on Thursday 30 June 2016, in the National Botanic Gardens, Dublin, to address some of the main issues involved in SFM. SFMI, formerly known as FSC Ireland, has organised the conference to explain certification and provide examples of best practice and group certification.

A wide range of issues will be discussed by speakers from certification bodies, processors, the Forest Service and Coillte. The conference will be opened by Andrew Doyle, Minister of State with responsibility for forestry. Phone 091-845213 or, alternatively, email sfmireland@gmail.com, for further information, including booking.