Plans unveiled for €50m biodiesel plant in harbour

PLANS for a €50 million biodiesel production plant on Cork Harbour were unveiled yesterday.

Energy company Bioverda advertised its intention to seek planning permission and released details of its plan.

It hopes to use the plant to produce more than 220 million litres of biodiesel a year, mostly from imported rapeseed oil.

The biofuels’ company has picked a site at Ringaskiddy, near Ballybriken Point, on the old ADM complex.

The company said it picked the site because of accessibility and will renovate some of the existing industrial buildings if it gets the go-ahead to begin construction.

“After a nationwide review, Ringaskiddy has been identified as a port facility well suited in terms of location and deep water capacity to serve such a facility,” it said.

For this project, Bioverda which is a subsidiary of NTR plc, has teamed up with Cork businessmen John and Pat O’Flynn of South Coast Transport.

The O’Flynn brothers have developed their businesses around road haulage, specialising in chemicals and hazardous materials. Their company owns the ADM site.

Yesterday, a Bioverda company spokeswoman said its ambitions would not be contingent on the price of rapeseed. In the past two years the price of the crop around the world has risen sharply, fuelled by rising demand for rapeseed from the food industry. This has led some countries to look at crops other than rapeseed with the alternatives including grass, elephant grass and sugar beet to produce biodiesel.

Bioverda said it is happy to base its plans on rapeseed. “It is correct to say the price of rapeseed will not affect the development,” a spokeswoman said.

The vast majority of the crops would be imported although it does hope the facility would encourage local farmers to provide raw materials.

“Although it is hoped Irish farmers will provide locally grown rapeseed oil, it will take a number of years before farmers can produce such oils in reasonable quantities.”

If it is successful in getting planning permission Bioverda said it hopes to begin construction in 2008 and start to bring biodiesel to the market in 2009.