The Department of Agriculture has no plans to operate a second grant support scheme for AD plants.

In a statement to the Irish Farmers Journal, a spokesperson said it has no plans at this time to operate grant support beyond the terms of the current capital support programme, which is nearing completion.

However, it remains unclear how much of the €40m Biomethane Capital Grant Scheme, introduced in 2024, will be drawn down, with potentially only four projects eligible.

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Instead, funding of up to €200 million for a second round of capital grants has been secured under the Infrastructure, Climate and Nature Fund (ICNF) in the revised National Development Plan.

The Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment is in the initial stages of developing the scheme.

The grant scheme to support the development of AD plants in Ireland will be open for applications from the second half of 2026 and will run until 2030.

Details of the scheme design, including the percentage of grant support to be provided, will be made available in due course.

It is believed that 20% grant support could be made available for large-scale projects.

However, industry has consistently called for 50% support to be made available for small, farm-scale plants, as outlined in the National Biomethane Strategy.

The Irish Bioenergy Association successfully proved this concept on the farm of Brendan Gildea in Galway last year, providing a 50% grant towards the cost of building a farm-scale plant.