Bord Gáis Energy has said it is open to sourcing biomethane produced from Irish anaerobic digestion (AD) plants when sufficient supply is available.
Under its new green plan, it says that 100% of its electricity and 10% of its gas supplied to customers is obtained from renewable sources.
However, the move caused concern in Ireland’s developing AD industry when it was revealed that Bord Gáis is sourcing renewable biomethane gas from Europe under the plan.
As part of the green plan, Bord Gáis will purchase guarantee of origin (GOO) green gas certificates from European AD producers.
They are verified by a European registry and act as a guarantee that the gas is produced from renewable sources.
Most European AD biomethane producers avail of some form of State support.
This means they can produce the renewable gas considerably cheaper, much of which is produced using farm-based feedstock.
Concern
As Ireland’s AD industry has no Government support, developers are relying on impending legislation to force shippers of fuel in the heat sector to include renewables in their fuel mix.
However, as the renewable fuel can be sourced anywhere outside of Ireland, and given our direct gas pipeline connection to AD plants in Europe, the Irish industry is concerned that shippers may opt to source all of their biomethane requirements from Europe.
SHARING OPTIONS