JOINT COMMITTEE ON ENTERPRISE, TRADE AND EMPLOYMENT (Sub-Committee on Job Creation Through Use of Renewable Energy Resources) debate -
Tuesday, 30 Jun 2009

Short Rotation Coppice: Discussion.

Vice Chairman

I proposed remaining in public session to discuss short rotation coppice. Is that agreed? Agreed. I welcome Mr. Bernard Carey and Dr. Brian Tobin. As with our previous witnesses, I apologise on behalf of the sub-committee members to Mr. Carey and Dr. Tobin for the cancellation of the meeting they were invited to address. It was regrettable that we put them to the trouble of coming to the Houses of the Oireachtas and then cancelled the meeting. I said to the previous witnesses that it was an exceptional week, given the results of the local and European elections and two by-elections. Such are the vagaries of politics that we were obliged to cancel the meeting. I hope Mr. Carey and Dr. Tobin accept our sincere apologies for the inconvenience caused. We are eager to hear their ideas and suggestions.

I draw attention to the fact that while members of the committee have absolute privilege this privilege does not apply to witnesses appearing before the committee. Members are also reminded of long-standing parliamentary practice to the effect that they should not comment on, criticise or make charges against a person outside the House or an official, by name or in such a way as to make him or her identifiable. I invite Mr. Carey to make an opening statement.

Mr. Bernard Carey

I thank the committee for inviting me. I am a private individual. This is my first time at this type of event so I may be a bit nervous.

I do not represent a company and this is a concept I have come up with along with Dr. Brian Tobin, who works in UCD. My background is in horticulture, forestry and renewable energy. I completed a course on short rotation forestry and this led to an application for a research stimulus fund in 2007 which Dr. Tobin and I put together. We did not win that at the time and we are back here promoting the idea. I am aware that the sub-committee does not give out money but I want to get the concept out there.

I work in forestry in the west of Ireland and I have noticed there are limitations in the amount of trees being planted there. Despite what people may hear about forestry being a growing endeavour, figures show that year-on-year, the area of land being planted is gradually diminishing. I hope this year might be an exception but the figure has been dropping for the nine years I have been in the west of Ireland.

There are a couple of reasons for this and a main issue is that because of the long-term nature of forestry, farmers do not want to switch land to permanent forestry. Whereas a farmer may not have a problem with it, the family or following generations may. There are more environmental restrictions every year such as SSEs, NHAs, etc. Some of the land is limited in what can be done anyway because of bad drainage or poor fertility. We feel that short rotation forestry has the potential to get around the problem of a decreasing amount of land being planted. It is a sustainable production and there is a good economic return. It is also socially sustainable in that it keeps people in the countryside.

Short rotation forestry is the cutting back of trees more or less to ground level and cutting them every two to five years on a periodic basis to produce woodchip. As the sub-committee heard from previous speakers, this can be used to produce heat and more importantly, it leads to second-generation fuels. It is the next step on from just burning the product.

As some of the members may be aware, willows are grant-aided but no other species are. That is a problem as the land on which willow can be planted is mainly good agricultural land. There are a limited number of sites and that land would compete with food production. Another problem of being limited to one species is disease and pests. By increasing the species range to other trees, we would get more potential for sites, less of a risk of disease and pests wiping out the crop, increased localised supply in poorer areas and we allow landowners more choice and options. We would also diversify the material for future projects in biomass and second-generation fuels.

Our project looks to increase the species range for short rotation and develop a management system for small-scale production, thereby increasing biomass production in economically disadvantaged areas by utilising locally-produced material and maintaining communities and jobs.

I know the sub-committee is conscious of how many jobs this could create. Although I could not get specific numbers for my concept, it has been stated that in the EU, biomass has the highest potential to create jobs among these technologies, including wind turbines and other forms of renewables. By 2020, 300,000 jobs could be created in the biomass sector as opposed to just in renewables.

We are looking to push this idea and we hope it can be incorporated into the sub-committee's report. We hope other species of trees for short rotation could be grant-aided rather than just willow, as is currently the case. In England, poplar is included in a similar scheme.

Vice Chairman

We are delighted with Mr. Carey's brevity. However, we also have many hard questions which we will put now.

Deputy Damien English

I thank the delegates for their presentation. Why are other species not grown? Is it specifically not allowed or just not grant-aided? Are there benefits to growing different species, of which Mr. Carey is aware, apart from soil selection and so on? Are parts of Ireland better suited to particular species? We had this conversation before the sub-committee was formed. I am questioning our choice of wood and whether we should be following other roads, apart from the one on which we are focused, but it is very hard to get anyone to admit this is an issue. Mr. Carey is raising the same questions. We seem to be focusing on one approach. Is there a reason for this that we do not know about?

Can the wood be mixed when producing pellets and other products or is it the case that willow, for example, produces one type of pellet and ash produces another? I accept this is a personal venture and that Mr. Carey has not necessarily done this as a business operation, but has he been speaking to those involved in the industry, to growers or the IFA, who are making business decisions? Do they have any qualms about the direction we take in regard to species?

Senator Brendan Ryan

Is the approach being taken to willow different from that to coppicing?

Mr. Bernard Carey

No, not really. Nobody has done trials on various other species such as poplar, eucalyptus or alder which could potentially be planted on poorer land. There is a mindset involved. There are two branches of the industry, forestry which involves growing big trees and agriculture. Willow has just about edged in and some are accepting of it. My vision is to do trials in the west on poorer land to see whether it can be grown because there is a limit to what can be done in the west. Rearing animals is what most people are doing, but they are beginning to find that does not work because the land is waterlogged after the wetter years. The growing of willow may open up other options for farmers. There is really no difference in the basic idea.

Senator Brendan Ryan

It is similar.

Mr. Bernard Carey

We would have to do trials. Certain trees will not grow on certain types of land.

Senator Brendan Ryan

Mr. Carey mentioned poplar, eucalyptus, alder and other species. Has any research been done on these in other countries?

Mr. Bernard Carey

I visited a company in Italy three years ago and brought home some poplar clones which I planted on approximately one acre in County Westmeath. That land would be better than most, but nobody is financing me. I planted them as part of a trial to see how they would grow. To answer the Senator's question, eucalyptus is grown widely in hotter countries, but it is also grown in England. Alder is more or less new on the scene in Ireland. I am involved with a group which is improving it because much of it is not good.

Senator Brendan Ryan

I planted a eucalyptus tree in my garden about five years ago and there is not much sign of it growing.

Mr. Bernard Carey

There are many varieties. It is widely grown in hotter countries, but even in Ireland there are research papers which show it grows very well here. The reason it has not been promoted up to this point is that people grew it mainly for structural uses. Now, with the biomass market coming on, it will probably be opened up for use either in short rotation or longer-term forestry.

Vice Chairman

We will take all the questions and come back to Deputy English. I call Deputy Fitzpatrick. I will then have the floor to myself.

Deputy Michael Fitzpatrick

I welcome the delegates. While we cannot give funding, this presentation will be in the public arena. It will be included in the television programme "Oireachtas Report" tonight, which is very important in terms of the work being done. In Ireland the culture of forestry is not grounded in the farming community and there is a job of selling to be done, particularly in terms of short-term rotation forestry. It is not something in which many farmers are involved or have experience of. However, farmers in Ireland are very adaptable and if they see a financial gain from getting involved in short-term rotation forestry, I have no doubt they will do it. I was not aware that willow was the only short-term rotation crop that was grant-aided. How supportive is Coillte of small indigenous producers in the forestry sector, such as the delegates? Does Coillte conduct experiments in its forests? It was mentioned that Teagasc conducts experiments in Carlow, though I am not aware of this.

We are in a new age and we now speak of renewable energy and so on. Short-term forestry has a great future and some power stations have been adapted to burn renewable energy. I wish the delegates well in their work and am glad they are here to put their ideas on the public record. This sub-committee exists so people like this can present their cases to us. I would like to hear the views of Mr. Tobin because he is a professional in the field.

Vice Chairman

I will add some questions and the delegates may answer them all together. They spoke of wood chip and marginal land, particularly on the west coast of Ireland. To what acreage do they refer? The delegates also spoke of second generation bio-fuels; do they mean lignocellulose? This is the next step up and I am interested to ensure it does not compromise our food crops and tillage growing. We must not enter into the old debate of food versus fuel.

John Gilliland is doing much work in Northern Ireland with short rotation crops like willow. Is it correct that he uses sewage sludge to grow the willow? Have the delegates visited him and had discussions with him? Miscanthus, eucalyptus and willow are perennials but could different species of trees be grown on similar land or would this cause difficulties for harvesting?

Dr. Brian Tobin

I will take some of those questions but, as the last speaker mentioned, we may not remember all of them and ask the members to remind us. We are mainly talking about diversifying the production system to increase the range of material it is possible to produce from a particular set of land areas and extending those lands into areas not currently supported by the grant aid for establishment. On Deputy English's question, grants cover establishment and nothing else and willow is the only one covered for this purpose. It is a form of support for the industry.

Deputy Fitzpatrick mentioned that farmers are adaptable and must adapt as necessary to survive. This has been shown in recent times and John Gilliland is an excellent example of a person who pushed himself and his family into a completely different area. He takes on sludge remuneration from the local urban council and produces vast quantities of biomass chips. The problem is if the establishment grants only support willow — a single species and a single production type — State sponsorship is limited to a very small area of what is possible. The multi-stem production of willow biomass is limited to certain types of site. Poplar would extend the range of species on a similar range of sites but these species would not be suitable for wetter land in the west, where the status of nutrients is a problem. This is why alder trees and other species would be better suited.

The carrying capacity of the soil for heavy machinery for harvest, etc., is also a problem. It is a coupling of the species type and range that is supportable, but also the production and-or management system. In order for farmers to be able to adapt, it must be a management system that can be worked on a small mosaic of lands currently existing. From the sub-committee's point of view, it is important not just to the creation of jobs but the maintenance of jobs in particularly rural areas. It is another range of activities that land, which currently would not be considered for this sort of production, can be used for. As the sub-committee will be aware, the use of biomass as a fuel is closely linked to the transport distances and the more localised the production, the better one achieves suitable transport distances.

There was a question on the mixture of the biomass. Of course, it depends on who is using it and what their requirements are. Mr. O'Carroll mentioned that if a cheap system is in use, it has a fairly limited range of parameters, and moisture content and ash content are particularly important. Ultimately, it depends on the end user but there is no reason produce from different species should not be mixed.

An aspect of this application for a stimulus grant was to increase the number of species but also adapt a management system to move on from one or two-year rotation to possibly three or four-year rotation. As a result, one produces slightly larger material and in the case of ash, one produces material that has a lower natural moisture content and needs less drying to be immediately usable. Eucalyptus and alder would produce material that has a higher calorific value and a higher composition in terms of lignin content and the possibility for secondary fuel uses is increased as well.

Mr. Bernard Carey

What Dr. Tobin is saying is that the short rotation forestry would probably have more uses for second-generation fuels than miscanthus. A year ago I spoke to somebody in England about eucalyptus, etc., who stated there is a move towards short rotation forestry as opposed to miscanthus for supplying power stations because one got a higher calorific value for one's load on the back of the lorry compared with miscanthus, which has a lower calorific value.

Vice Chairman

How much lower?

Mr. Bernard Carey

I do not know off-hand.

Vice Chairman

That would be interesting. We are often asked how high is the calorific value of individual crops grown for chipping or pelleting. If Mr. Carey had that information, we would be interested in getting it.

Mr. Bernard Carey

I can look that up.

Vice Chairman

On behalf of the sub-committee, I very much thank the delegation. Sustainable crops, that is, the idea of growing, reusing, growing again and cutting, is what we want. For farmers and people looking for innovative ideas to create jobs, increase farm-gate prices and, above all, contribute to cutting down on our emissions, their presentation has given us great food for thought. We look forward to including their ideas in our final report.