ICMSA in renewable energy plea
Rural Development Committee chairman Tommy Cooke said the ICMSA believes this opportunity must be harnessed by ensuring that any national policy will put farm renewable energy generation to the forefront.
Mr Cooke, a prominent Kilkenny farmer, said announcements in recent weeks of various schemes that will be introduced in the coming year in the renewable energy sector were welcome.
Hopefully, they will be just the first steps in Ireland’s progression from dependence on imported fossil fuels and towards meeting our international commitments, he added.
Mr Cooke said the ICMSA is very aware that the devil will be in the detail and it is concerned the proposed initiatives will be operated in ways that will inhibit their usefulness.
“We will be meeting with the various Government departments that are charged with overseeing these schemes to ensure they are easily accessible and that the greatest benefit is achieved,” he said.
He said that projects faced barriers involving the access to grid connections for renewable electricity generators and the massive cost of connection to the grid for independent renewable energy projects.
He added these would have to be addressed if the potential was to be fully realised and farmers and rural communities were to benefit from renewable energy.
He said these problems had already been addressed in many EU member states where renewable energy is given greater importance.
He said the ICMSA was determined to have these impediments to workable renewable energy policy removed so that farm families and rural communities would get the undoubted financial benefit from renewable energy.
Meanwhile, the National Farmers Union (NFU) in Britain has reached agreement with British Sugar over the supply of sugar beet for bioethanol production, guaranteeing growers an outlet for surplus production.
The three-year deal has a built in mechanism which offers growers a minimum price for surplus beet on an increasing scale as and when the demand for and value of ethanol rises. It is also flexible enough to allow growers access to the most lucrative markets.
