Cautious welcome to new biomass energy price support plan
While the new REFIT scheme would encourage farmers to grow renewable crops by giving investors guaranteed returns over 15 years, those in the industry also say the 8.5c-15c tariff per kilowatt hour for renewable-sourced electricity, may be too low to make the sector viable, with at least 27 biomass projects still on hold.
Announced by Energy Minister Pat Rabbitte, farmers have been waiting for the proposed Renewable Energy Feed-In Tariff 3 (REFIT 3) scheme since 2006.
