€30m bio-energy park revealed for south-east location

A €30 MILLION bio-energy park is to be established in the south-east, it was revealed at the ploughing championships.

Three locations have been surveyed as the location for the park, but a final selection will not be made until next month.

A bio-energy capital group has reached agreement with the Green Energy Service Companies (GESCO) Network to build the park, which will be one of the most advanced in the world.

The park will enable new green technology companies, agri-food businesses and leading developers of sustainable products to co-locate and share the benefits of stable energy costs.

It will represent the culmination of four years’ research, funded by the seven regional GESCOs and strategic planning by experts in Ireland, Britain, France and the US.

The chosen site will be home to the first of seven regional bio-energy parks planned for across Ireland.

The project is being funded by direct investment from the Irish GESCOs, and a mix of equity and debt provision for Capital Investment from leading technology investment funds.

In the past two years a network of GESCOs throughout Ireland has invested €2.7 million in the development of biomass crop plantations, a figure expected to double to €5.4m by the summer of 2009. The bio-energy park can integrate a 50,000 tonne biomass fuel processing plant and a 15 megawatt biomass fueled Combined Heat and Power (CHP) facility.

It will also build advanced carbon neutral buildings which will house companies who need to stabilise energy costs and gain access to bio-materials.

The biomass plant is projected to be operational by November 2010, processing a new blend of miscanthus, industrial hemp and switchgrass feedstock.

The bio-energy park will deliver biomass pellets and briquettes as well as raw materials for replacing conventional oil-based products.

The network of GESCOs was developed within the Green Energy Growers Associations (GEGA) which has promoted and assisted Irish farmers to plant over 1,500 hectares of high-yielding biomass crops, making the supply chain group one of Europe’s largest managed energy crop plantations.

GEGA director Ann Kehoe said Irish farmers have again demonstrated that they can lead the way in new bio-energy markets.

“The green energy sector can be a catalyst for attracting industry to Ireland and guarantees agriculture has a major stake in this new product economy,” said Ms Kehoe.