Non-delivery of our renewable energy targets will result in a €16bn cost to the Irish citizen in fines, director of the Irish Bioenergy Association (IrBEA) Paddy Phelan told the Joint Committee on Agriculture on Wednesday afternoon.

Currently, the share of renewable energy sources used in the generation of electricity in Ireland is 13.5%, with a target of 42.5% to meet by 2030.

"Fundamentally, from a cost perspective, we are heading for fines and we said this 10 years ago before the 2020 fines," Phelan said.

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Speaking about the opportunities for anaerobic digestion (AD) in Ireland, Phelan said that the southeast region alone could achieve 47% of the country's total energy demand by 2030 through the development of biomethane facilities.

This, he said, is achievable by using existing residues from the land above ground in Kilkenny, Carlow and Waterford without impacting any food production.

"The technology is here, the opportunity is here - yes, there's cost, we have to acknowledge that, but it would be very hard to stand in front of the public in 2032 and try to justify paying out €16bn in fines," he said.

Community concerns

In response to community concern and objections to planning for AD facilities, IrBEA CEO Seán Finan said that the biogas and biomethane industry is very heavily regulated in Ireland.

"It's governed and regulated by the Department of Agriculture under the animal by-products regulations. Each facility is licensed by the EPA and those license conditions associated are very strict and stringent. There's a lot of misinformation out there saying that this sector is not regulated - it's very heavy regulated," he told the committee.

Finan explained that large scale biomethane facilities are currently in residential and built-up urban areas right across cities in Europe without "posing any issue for their local community."

The reason behind a number of objections, he added, are because of lack of information.

Finan welcomed the long-awaited national biomethane strategy, which includes over 20 measures and actions, each to be completed by members of the steering committee, aimed at stimulating the development of the biomethane industry.