Brazilian woodchips have been shipped more than 7,000km to be burned by Bord na Móna at its Edenderry power plant.

The 40,000t Dynagreen arrived in Foynes Port, Co Limerick, on Sunday morning after completing a two-week voyage from Santana port on the coast of Brazil.

The ship, a Japanese registered woodchip carrier, was met by a fleet of trucks to haul its cargo from the Limerick quayside directly to the Bord na Móna plant 180km away in Edenderry, Co Offaly.

Edenderry is Bord na Móna’s biomass-power station. It was originally commissioned as a peat-burning plant and is set to fully phase out the use of peat this year. From then, it will rely on 100% biomass for fuel.

Last October, Bord na Móna’s head of renewable energy Dr John Reilly announced the facility would increase its use of forestry residues and sustainable biomass.

The environmental impact assessment accompanying the company’s May 2021 planning application to extend the life of the plant beyond 2023 suggests Edenderry will use 24,000t of imported woodchips this year, rising to over 175,000t in 2024.

In Bord na Móna’s 2021 documents, Irish biomass was forecast to only accounting for 66% of the total fuel consumed by the plant next year.

The woodchip landed in Foynes this week from the Santana port in Brazil, a major hub for the eucalyptus-growing Amapá region.

The Irish Farmers Journal contacted Bord na Móna representatives for comment, but had not received an answer by time of going to press.