Coillte hopes the Government’s white paper on energy, due later this year, will see Ireland begin to harness its largely untapped private sector forestry resource.

THE whine of the chainsaw can still be heard in the countryside as people continue to cut up trees laid low by Storm Darwin more than two months ago. You might say the ferocious storm had a sort of silver lining in that the fallen trees will result in more use of renewable fuel.

Savings of €50m in transport fuel bills could be achieved annually through the conversion of municipal and agri-food waste into biomethane.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny gave no sartorial hint as to what team he will be supporting in tomorrow’s All-Ireland hurling final replay.

THE EU went ahead this week with proposals which could dash hopes of reviving an Irish sugar beet industry.

Ireland’s hopes of reviving its sugar industry and the aligned development of its biofuels sector could be dashed by draft European proposals to reduce the amount of land devoted to biomass crops.

THE Irish biofuels industry died on Jan 1, 2011 when a government tax relief scheme designed to foster the sector was replaced with one which has completely failed to do so. As a result, almost all of the country’s bioethanol, biodiesel, and oil-crushing plants were switched off.

BIOMASS energy producers have given a cautious welcome to the Government’s plans to roll out a new guaranteed price support.

STATE agencies such as Bus Éireann and Iarnród Éireann should take a lead in the use of Irish biofuel, says Tom Bruton, chairman of the Irish Bioenergy Association (IrBEA).

PIONEERING entrepreneurs who have invested €200 million in renewable energy are on the verge of leaving the sector, yesterday’s Teagasc National Bioenergy Conference heard.

FARM and business groups are conducting a feasibility study into a €400m twin-track sugar and ethanol plant, with the midlands as the most likely location.

A NEW Government support price structure for bio- energy will boost the use of natural materials for the production of electricity, Energy Minister Eamon Ryan predicted when he announced the scheme yesterday.

A NEW quality assurance scheme for wood fuel products has been formed by a peer-nominated oversight committee.

LANDOWNERS now have more flexibility to produce different energy crops as most subsidy payments are decoupled from production.

The change in the way that biofuel is being gradually introduced in the makeup of petrol and diesel should be warmly welcomed. Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources Eamon Ryan announced yesterday that 4% of the petrol and diesel sold to motorists will have to come from biofuels by the middle of next year.

A DUTCH expert has predicted that in the most environmentally friendly scenario, integrated renewable sources — biomass, wind, hydro and solar — could fill up to 75% of the world’s long-term energy needs.

A MAJOR national bioenergy conference in Tullamore, County Offaly on Tuesday next will focus on the latest developments in the emerging industry.

BIOFUEL producers, farmers and road hauliers have united to demand that the Government immediately reverse its policy which, in effect, excludes most producers of biofuel from the Irish market.

THE supply chain for bioenergy is not well linked, the annual conference of the Irish Bioenergy Association (IrBEA) was told in Portlaoise yesterday.

The Government’s long-awaited plan to increase the share of indigenous renewable energy available in Ireland is to be unveiled today.