The National Biomethane Strategy aimed to develop a domestic anaerobic digestion (AD) industry, enable farmers to build, own, and operate plants, improve energy security and reduce emissions across agriculture and energy (heat and transport).

The Renewable Heat Obligation (RHO) is the key policy to deliver this, and it would require heat fuel suppliers to use a percentage of renewable fuels in their mix.

Multiplier

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In practice, biomethane is the only viable option for gas suppliers, and to support Irish production a multiplier was proposed: 1.5 certificates for Irish biomethane versus one for imports.

The European Commission has now ruled the multiplier non-compliant with EU rules. The Government is now proceeding with the RHO without the multiplier, alongside a €200m capital grant scheme.

What this means is that suppliers will likely import cheaper European biomethane (often already subsidised to some degree) to meet targets with energy supply effectively outsourced, meaning Irish consumers pay a premium and the production and income benefits go to European farmers.

The Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment doesn’t appear to have a clear backup plan.

Meanwhile, the Czech Republic has secured EU approval for a €3.7bn biomethane support scheme, expected to benefit mainly small and medium farms.

While the AD industry will still develop in Ireland, it will now likely be led by large scale developers (for example, Carbon AMS, Nephin Renewable Gas etc) and the RHO risks becoming a major energy policy failure, with Irish farmers losing out.