In his opening address at the National Bioenergy Association Conference, Minister Eamon Ryan said that the Government haven’t done enough on bioenergy, and that they haven’t seen the scale of development in renewable heat that a crisis would warrant.

He said that this has to change and that decarbonising heat, in particular, is the area that needs to see the fastest progress.

Bioenergy is the largest source of renewable energy globally; however, it represents only a small proportion of Ireland’s total energy use.

The Minister has said that while progress has been slow, there have been some positive developments on bioenergy, however.

There's a perception barrier to the low uptake of biomass.

The Renewable Heat Obligation is set to be introduced in 2024, placing a mandate on fuel suppliers to use more renewable fuels, which will help create demand for bioenergy.

Minister Ryan also said that the way to really accelerate the biomass market is through putting the onus on larger commercial companies in industries like biopharma, dairy, hospitality, etc, to use the fuel to reduce their Scope III emissions as part of their core business strategy.

He said that the existing Support Scheme for Renewable Heat (SSRH) has a €300m budget and that it is targeted towards high-heat industries, ie, those which can’t use a heat pump.

Minister Ryan explained that the review on land use will be critical in determining the source of materials for bioenergy.

He said that a lot of work has gone into this land use plan, which aims to optimise how they develop rural Ireland, reduce emissions, increase biodiversity, and reduce nitrogen and ammonia pollution.

SSRH explained

Fergus Sharkey, head of business supports and transport with the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI), gave attendees a rundown of the SSRH so far.

He explained that the SSRH is essentially two schemes with two options, both aimed at converting fossil-fuel heating systems to renewable heat.

One option is capital grants towards the investment cost of biomass boilers and heat pumps. The second is an ongoing 15-year operational tariff for using biomass and biogas.

Fergus explained that, on the biomass side, uptake has been steady but slow, with just €10m in support offered per year so far. Most of these are in agriculture, hotels, and nursing homes.

Of the offers made, only one-third of the projects have progressed to investment.

Most of these are smallscale, with no largescale ETS companies applying yet. There are currently 95 live offers, and 34 of those are on the payment cycle.

In a review of the scheme conducted by the SEAI, Fergus said that there is a perception barrier to the low uptake of biomass. Of the companies they spoke to, few, if any, said that their preference was a biomass heating system.

Some of the perception barriers highlighted are that biomass is not sustainable; there are air-quality issues, supply-chain uncertainty, bad experiences in the past, fuel quality issues, etc.

He said that the supports in place are very attractive, but there is a lot of work to do to change these perceptions, which includes dealing with the NGOs and certain members of the political parties, some of which are not in favour of biomass.

Addressing perception

Paddy Phelan, president of the Irish BioEnergy Association (IrBEA) and CEO of the Southeast Energy Agency, said that the fear of biomass systems is due to historical challenges, and that this perception is something the industry must address.

He said that there are some excellent examples from industries like pharmaceuticals, which installed biomass heating systems for dispatchable, quality heat, and that there’s a knowledge transfer piece to be done to highlight this.

The Renewable Heat Obligation is set to be introduced in 2024, placing a mandate on fuel suppliers to use more renewable fuels, which will help create demand for bioenergy

He said that he understands why some companies don’t realise bioenergy is an option, so getting the education piece right to make the decision is important, and there are shining light examples in Ireland.

Bord na Móna

Brendan Kelly, head of commercial at Bord na Móna, explained to delegates that from January 2024 onwards, Bord na Móna’s Edenderry Power Plant will operate off 100% biomass to produce dispatchable renewable electricity.

Over the past number of years, the plant has been co-fired with peat and biomass.

In 2022, over 80% of the biomass used in Edenderry came from indigenous Irish sources, with the remainder being imported.

Edenderry is set to become the first renewable, dispatchable electricity plant in the country, and will offset 252,000 tonnes of CO2 per year. They’ve also committed to further investment to switch peaking generators from diesel to biomethane or hydrogen.

The move by Bord na Móna is set to provide a new market for biomass, as the plant is set to double its biomass intake over the coming decade, explained Tony.