‘First of its kind’ €32m biomethane facility opens in Cork
Taoiseach Micheál Martin opens Gas Networks Ireland’s new €32m biomethane facility in Mitchelstown, with Gas Networks Ireland chief executive David Kelly.
The new €32m Central Grid Injection (CGI) facility in Mitchelstown, Co Cork, for Gas Networks Ireland was officially opened by Taoiseach Micheál Martin.
The facility officially opened on October 2 and is part of major infrastructure investment in Munster in light of the €50m Southern Area Upgrade works announced earlier this year.
The Cork-based CGI facility has the capacity to receive renewable gas produced from farm and food waste and is the first of its kind in both Ireland and Europe.
Gas Networks Ireland head of business development Karen Doyle told the : “It will allow smaller farmers to participate in the market.”
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Suppliers to the facility will be awarded Green Certificates from Gas Networks Ireland recognising their contributions. Expectations currently rest on the Government “coming through” with the Renewable Heat Obligation (RHO) to encourage further development in the facility and Irish biomethane production.
The Mitchelstown CGI facility is part of the broader Green Renewable Agricultural Zero Emissions (Graze) project, which is designed to showcase large-scale agricultural biomethane clusters that can be replicated across the country.
Supported by €8.4m in funding from the Climate Action Fund, the Graze project is a testament to Ireland's commitment to advancing renewable energy and achieving national energy security.
The facility, when fully operational, has the potential to inject up to 700 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of biomethane annually, equivalent to about 12% of the Government’s 2030 target of 5.7 TWh of indigenous biomethane production. The facility could also deliver an estimated 130,000 tonnes of CO₂ emissions savings each year.
The facility creates a new route for biomethane producers to supply renewable gas into Ireland's national gas network, but are too far away to connect directly by pipeline.
The facility is the first high-pressure grid of its kind in Ireland and Europe and will begin operating over the next few weeks.
The facility will operate at a quarter of its full potential initially and will be further expanded and developed to inject that 12% of biomethane, with the target to reach that full potential by 2030.
“It’s about security of supply,” project manager Conor Ahern told the , explaining it would reduce Ireland's reliance on the UK for natural gas imports, which make up 80% of total natural gas usage, with the remainder coming from indigenous gas sources.
Biomethane produced at independent anaerobic digestion facilities will be transported by trailer to the Mitchelstown facility, where it can be prepared to the required standards and injected into the national gas network. Once injected, the gas can travel to customers through the existing gas pipeline network.
Initial plans call for a working crew of three to four personnel to ensure gas is delivered and injected into the grid once the facility is operational, with the intention of a fully automated system, with trained drivers delivering biomethane to the facility.
Speaking at the official opening of the facility in Mitchelstown, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said: “The opening of the Mitchelstown Central Grid Injection facility is an important milestone in Ireland’s renewable energy journey and in the development of our indigenous biomethane industry.
Gas Networks Ireland’s chief executive David Kelly said: “Today marks an important step forward for Ireland’s biomethane industry. What we are seeing is a growing appetite from prospective biomethane producers to develop homemade renewable gas and to bring it onto the national network."
“Having recently connected two anaerobic digestion plants in Dublin and Meath directly to our gas network, Mitchelstown now gives producers who are not close enough to a pipeline a route into the national network, helping to unlock the potential of Ireland’s biomethane industry."
Gas Networks Ireland has signed agreements to connect seven new biomethane producers to its network, including the €35m College Group biomethane plant in Co Meath and Bia Energy’s €90m biomethane gas facility in Dublin.
