Farmers help North surpass renewable energy target

Farmers have helped Northern Ireland to smash its renewable electricity target, with 44% of total electricity consumption in the region from renewable sources located in Northern Ireland, in the year to June 2019.

Progress has been slower south of the border, with the most recent statistics indicating a renewable share of 30%.

An increase of 7.4 percentage points on the previous year has delivered on Northern Ireland targets ahead of schedule and under budget.

The south’s renewable energy nearly all comes from wind, whereas it is 85.3% from wind in the North, 5.5% biogas, 3.6% biomass, 3.2% solar PV, 1.9% landfill gas, and 0.5% other sources.

The contribution from Northern farms is set to increase, by supplying material for anaerobic digestion (AD) in the many digestion units currently in operation, and potentially for 179 digestion units for which planning has been granted.

Digestion units typically produce biogas from materials such as food waste, grass silage, and farm waste such as poultry litter.

Relatively generous AD subsidies for 20 years, funded from consumers’ electricity bills, are available in Northern Ireland.

The Northern Ireland Audit Office recently launched an investigation of these subsidies, which have been likened by some to the North’s controversial Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) “cash for ash” scheme.

It was rows over the RHI that ended the DUP/Sinn Féin-led power-sharing coalition at Stormont in January, 2017.

Anaerobic digestion is natural breakdown of organic material such as food waste, farm wastes, purpose-grown crops and sewage sludge in the absence of oxygen. Biogas from AD plants is 60% methane and 40% carbon dioxide, and can be used in an engine to generate electricity and heat. Or it can be upgraded to biomethane which can be used locally to fuel vehicles or injected into the gas power grid.

Globally, AD and biogas can become a £1 trillion industry, it is estimated, with benefits such as clean energy, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and restoring soils.

Reducing greenhouse gas emissions is an important benefit in Northern Ireland, where greenhouse gas emissions are 27% agricultural in origin. As in the south, this is due to the relative importance of farming.

In the south, the Government has committed to investigating the long-term potential of establishing a biogas industry. And the second phase of the Support Scheme for Renewable Heat offers operational support for biomass boilers and anaerobic digestion heating systems.