Milk processor Aurivo opts for biomass energy at €5m plant

Dairy group Aurivo is to cut its carbon emissions in half thanks to a wood-fuelled energy system at its ingredients plant at Ballaghaderreen, Co Roscommon.

The €5m biomass plant will use 30,000 tonnes of woodchip, sourced from forests in the west and north west, thus displacing five million litres of heavy fuel oil annually. Aurivo will be the first largescale Irish milk processor to switch to biomass. Each year, the plant processes 300m litres of milk into enriched milk powders, butter and dairy ingredients, exported by the Irish Dairy Board to 20 countries.

Construction begins this week on the new plant, which from April 2014 will produce 15Mw of steam energy. It will later be developed into a combined heat and power plant.