It has been a landmark 12 months for biomethane development in NI, Agriculture Minister Andrew Muir told attendees at the Anaerobic Digestion and Bioresources Association (ADBA) NI conference in Belfast on Wednesday.

Among the successes was the rollout of the Small Business Research Initiative, which has provided grant aid for slurry separation demonstration projects. A decision on funding for the second phase of the initiative is due within the coming weeks, which will see the separation of slurry at scale, with the solid fraction to be sent to AD plants.

The resulting digestate will be further separated, with excess phosphorus extracted and exported, said Minister Muir.

Interest in gas

There continues to be significant interest in biomethane development in NI.

Responses to a request for information by gas network operators indicated sufficient interest from developers to replace up to 90% of NI’s gas requirements with biomethane.

However, much of the morning sessions focused on the challenges facing the rollout of biomethane production in NI, namely the support and removal of barriers needed to stimulate the sector.

Despite having over 80 AD plants in operation, practically all of the gas is being used to produce electricity.

To produce biomethane for injection into the gas network, a support scheme or obligation scheme will be required.

Whether the cost of this would be spread across NI gas consumers or across all gas consumers in the UK was a key question from the session.

While there are existing markets available for biomethane gas in Britain and an emerging market in the Republic of Ireland, the isolation of the NI gas grid makes it challenging to access these markets.