Gas Networks Ireland to connect new €63-MM Bia Energy biomethane plant directly to its network
- Partnership with Bia Energy will be the first direct entry point for renewable biomethane in the greater Dublin area
Gas Networks Ireland and Bia Energy have agreed a significant partnership to enable renewable biomethane gas from the Bia Energy facility at Huntstown, Co Dublin to be injected directly into the gas network.
Gas Networks Ireland will extend its existing network to create Dublin’s first direct Renewable Gas Entry Point at Bia Energy’s new reconfigured €63-MM anaerobic digestion facility in Huntstown. The agreement comes on the back of the recently announced National Biomethane Strategy, published by the Government and will be an important milestone in the development of Ireland’s renewable energy sector, as more biomethane made from food waste from the greater Dublin area will be injected directly into the State’s gas network.
Renewable biomethane gas is fully compatible with the existing national gas network and all existing appliances, technologies and vehicles that currently use gas. Biomethane seamlessly replaces natural gas to reduce emissions in heating, industry, transport and power generation. Structurally identical to natural gas, biomethane is a carbon neutral renewable gas that can be made from farm and food waste through a process known as anaerobic digestion.
Bia Energy’s anaerobic digestion facility at Huntstown will play a significant role in decarbonizing the national gas network grid and can be a model for further investment in the growing biomethane sector. Bia Energy is part of the Sretaw group, which was founded by Irish businessman Eamon Waters.
The Bia Energy anaerobic digestion facility in Huntstown was acquired by Sretaw last year and is being entirely reconfigured to enable it to process a wide range of organic material, such as, food waste, food processing residues and dairy and agricultural wastes. The anaerobic digestion process will also create a by-product known as biofertilizer that can be used to replace conventional chemical fertilizers, with significant positive environmental impacts.
By capturing the gas produced during the controlled decomposition – or anaerobic digestion - of these materials, the facility will initially use the gas to generate up to 4.8 megawatts of renewable electricity. However, it is being reconfigured to upgrade the gas to biomethane, in line with the Government’s target of having 5.7 terrawatt hours (TWh) of biomethane production by 2030.
The partnership between Gas Networks Ireland and Bia Energy was launched by the Minister of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue T.D., at the formal opening of Bia Energy’s Huntstown anaerobic digestion facility.
Gas Networks Ireland will help support the growth of an indigenous biomethane sector by extending the national gas network to Bia Energy’s facility and developing a Biomethane Network Entry Facility onsite to enable direct injection of the biomethane produced on site into the national gas network.
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