Firm proposes biofuel plant

Carlow: The head of a company interested in building a biofuel plant at the closed Carlow Sugar Factory said it could have the first phase of the project up and running within 15 months if it was given the go-ahead and the necessary planning permission.

Losonoco chief executive Alan Banks said the plant would create 60 direct and 250 indirect jobs and would generate around stg£15 million in annual payments to farmers for crops.

The plant would have 750,000 tons per year processing capacity - 400,000 tons of sugar beet, 200,000 tons of agricultural waste and 150,000 tons of municipal solid waste (MSW).

He said the company would encourage farmers to grow energy crops on set-aside land and would sign ten-year supply agreements enabling them to invest in production.

The plant would use corn, wheat, sugar beet and energy crops such as miscanthus and preferred a mix of feedstock including agricultural waste, such as straw, to minimise seasonality of supply.

Mr Banks said Losonoco had embarked on a £400m sterling investment programme over the next five years to build an annual capacity of 150 million gallons of ethanol.

He outlined the company interests at a conference in Carlow organised by Green Party deputy leader Cllr Mary White, who said the closure of the local sugar plant opens up an opportunity to convert beet and other mixed stocks into fuel grade ethanol.

“Carlow has a skilled work force and it has a land bank needed to grow the fuel of the future,” she said.