Alternative heating provides alternative income for farmers
IT was five degrees below freezing point in the snow covered high lands above the town of Natternbach in Upper Austria.
But all the talk inside a co-op building was about heat, and how a group of local farmers had come together to create a biomass centre for the local rural community, using forestry thinnings and wood chippings from two sawmills.
A group of visiting Irish business and media people, on a renewable energy fact-finding mission to Austria, organised by the Austrian Trade Commission Dublin, in co-operation with Sustainable Energy Ireland, listened carefully as Hubert Renner, the plant manager, described how the project began.
Austrian farmers, like those in Ireland and elsewhere in the European Union, are feeling the cold wind of change.
Many hold off farm jobs. But others are into the provision of alternative energy projects.
Renner said that more than 170 farmers were canvassed about developing the communal biomass centre, before 11 finally decided to start the €2.7 million project with the help of EU aid and Austrian public funds.
Farmers deliver wood chippings from their own forests in tractor pulled trailers, while other supplies come from two local saw mills, to provide the raw material for the biomass centre, from which heating and hot water are then supplied through pipes to 22 local buildings, including a school, the Mayor's house and restaurants.
The farmers are paid about €32 a tonne for the wood, depending on its water content. And the annual cost to the householders range from about €1,200 for an older building, to €700 or €800 for newer houses.
The project has capacity to serve 120 buildings, and there are hopes that the co-op, which is already profitable, will expand its services to more people in the years ahead.
"It is a very successful project. It links farming with an industry providing energy to the district. We are very proud of it. The farmers get paid for the wood, and the people linked up to the system get a cheaper system of heating," said Hubert Renner.
More than 800 rural communities in Austria have developed local biomass district heating grids.
"These support the local economy, as wood chip production creates income and jobs", said Renner.
Soaring oil prices, the desire to protect the environment, and dramatic changes in agriculture, have fenerated much interest in all forms of reneweable energy from solar and wind to biomass and biofuels.
Ireland, with Europe's best growing climate, offering the highest climatic potential for biomass in Europe. A number of Irish projects are already running, and more are planned. However, Irish forest cover, and the use of biomass for energy production, are still the lowest in Europe. Currently, forest cover represents only 9% of Ireland's land area, but this is expected to double by 2030, with continued Government support.
Yet, despite the obvious potential, Ireland still spends €20 million a day on energy - almost 90% of it coming from imported polluting fossil fuels (more than half from oil), rather than develop the vast potential from Irish forestry, wood wastes, and dedicated energy crops such as straw and cereals. Sustainable Energy Ireland says there is potential for considerable expansion of wood energy production in Ireland, offering benefits for farmers, land and forest owners and managers, project developers, consumers, and local communities.
According to SEI, "The development of a wood energy industry could play a significant role in rural regeneration. Well structured and organised local wood heating businesses could create thousands of jobs and significantly boost rural economies. Biomass offers vast development opportunities in both the heat and electricity markets. By 2012, Irish biomass could provide the equivalent to one million barrels of oil each year with a value of around €200 million.
"It could save over three million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions, see a capital investment of almost €400 million in a successful industry, and create over 2,000 jobs. However, such is the potential that, by 2020, biomass could meet 12% of our electricity needs, and sustain over 20,000 jobs."
For more information on Austrian sustainable energy initiatives, suppliers and products, email the Austrian Trade Commission in Dublin at dublin@austriantrade.org or call 01 2830488.
