Farm forestry has energy potential to heat 58,000 homes

THE celebrated Fields of Athenry didn’t reveal any gushing oil wells yesterday, but farm forestry owners were told they could become heat suppliers of the future.

A conference ahead of today’s Farmfest-Bioenergy event, which is expected to attract up to 20,000 visitors to Mellows College, heard farm forestry has the potential to produce enough energy to heat 58,000 homes.

Teagasc outlined research indicating that private investment in forestry provides a massive opportunity for the wood energy sector.

It said thinnings could help to reduce the dependence of domestic and commercial consumers on oil for their heating needs.

Nearly 60,000 hectares of forestry is more than 15 years of age and the research indicates that two-thirds of these plantations are ready for thinning.

The conference, organised by Teagasc, Sustainable Energy Ireland and COFORD, was told the annual output from the private sector has the potential to rise from 100,000 cubic metres per annum now to 1.1m cubic metres by 2015.

Teagasc forestry researcher Niall Farrelly said private planting of forests increased by the 1990s and these are ready for harvest.

It is anticipated that half of landowners will opt to thin, which could lift the annual output to 550,000 cubic metres per annum by 2015.

A high percentage of this thinning volume, 340,000 cubic metres, has the potential to supply the wood energy market.

The resource has an energy equivalent of 58 million litres of home heating oil — enough to heat 58,000 houses.