Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 22 September 2020
894. Deputy Jackie Cahill asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of anaerobic and biogas systems are currently in operation by sector, that is, pork, dairy, poultry, organic and others; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25413/20]
Amharc ar fhreagra895. Deputy Jackie Cahill asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if projections have been made on the number of anaerobic and biogas systems that will be developed over the next five to ten years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25414/20]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 894 and 895 together.
Indigenous renewable energy plays a vital role in our domestic fuel mix and will become even more important in the context of reducing our reliance on imported fuels and in meeting our challenging renewable energy targets for 2020 and 2030 and decarbonising our energy systems by 2050.
My Department is committed to working closely with the Department for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, which is the lead Department in this area, to ensure that the supply of domestic fuels available in the forest and agriculture sectors are mobilised to support energy generation from a range of bioenergy technologies including Anaerobic Digestion.
My Department has a key regulatory role to play when an operator is using animal-by-products as feedstock for Anaerobic Digestion and currently there are 12 Biogas Plants approved to operate using this material as a feed stock. A further two plants are at an advanced stage in the approval process, one plant is at the early stages of the planning process and my officials are dealing with a number of preliminary enquiries.
The approval to operate an anaerobic digestion plant under the EU Animal By-Products Regulations is not specific to any particular sector as most of the plants use a range of animal by products and non-animal by products for feedstock including poultry litter and other manure from farmed animals, former food stuffs including milk cheese and other foods of animal origin.
