Decision due on biomass move this month

As Edenderry Power Limited awaits a planning decision on a proposal to generate power solely from biomass at the end of March, the plan has been boosted further by its success in a recent electricity capacity auction.

Held jointly by grid operator Eirgrid, and its equivalent in the North, SONI, the auction gave the green light to Edenderry Power Limited to press ahead with its proposal to generate power using biomass only, rather than the current peat/biomass mix.

Nine other gas-fired plants were also given the go-ahead by 2024 following the auction in a bid to cater for the soaring demand for electricity on the island of Ireland and stave off any potential shortage of power in the future.

Offaly County Council is due to give a verdict on Edenderry Power Limited’s plan to move to exclusively using biomass for power generation by February 28 next, after further information was supplied recently by the applicant to address queries from the council about haulage routes, HGV traffic and storage.

Edenderry Power Limited (EPL), which is part of Bord na Móna, is proposing to increase the volume of “sustainable biomass feedstocks” to the plant from 300,000 to 530,000 tonnes per annum from the beginning of 2024 to the end of 2030.

Under the plant’s current approval, it is permitted to co-fuel using peat and biomass for a period of seven years to December 2023. All ash produced by the plant is deposited at Clobullogue Ash Repository which is operated by Bord na Móna Energy Ltd.

Outlining the strategic importance of the North Offaly power plant in the planning reports, it notes that it generates “up to 118MWh of dispatchable electrical power energy,” and to put this volume in perspective “the 330MWh that EPP generates is roughly equivalent to the output of a 100MW windfarm. The largest windfarm in the State is 169MW and consists of 58 turbines,” the planning documents explain.

The volume of peat used has been decreasing since 2008 as the volume of biomass increased, the company said in the application resulting in a reduction in CO2 emissions. In June 2020, the harvesting of milled peat permanently ceased. However, it says it will continue to use the harvested peat reserves (harvested before June 2020) until stocks are depleted, but not beyond the end of next year.

A spokesperson for Bord na Móna has yet to respond to queries from the Offaly Independent on the recent power capacity auction results in relation to Edenderry Power.

The plant, open since 2000, is based at Ballykilleen is some six kilometres south of Edenderry, and just over three kilometres from the village of Clonbullogue.

Meanwhile, the auction results have also boosted an Offaly company’s plans for a new gas-fired power plant in Rochfortbridge in Westmeath, only a few miles from the Offaly border.

Westmeath County Council is due to announce a decision on the plans for the €500m back up power plant and battery storage facility by March 22 next.

Lumcloon Energy which is headed up by Tullamore man Nigel Reams is involved in other projects given the green light by the electrical grid operator, including Rhode Energy Storage Limited, which already has planning approval since last year for a 14.25MW battery storage development at Coolcor and Clonin on land owned by Lumcloon Energy.

The third project is 27.302MW plant by a firm called Shannonbridge Power.

A spokesperson for Lumcloon Energy said this week they would not be making any comment at this stage.

The Minister for Environment, Climate & Communications Eamon Ryan welcomed the publication of the provisional results of the recently held electricity capacity auction for the period commencing October 2024.

The provisional capacity auction results include over 1,100 MW of new gas-fired generation and over 120 MW of battery storage in Ireland.

“The Government has set an ambitious target of up to 80% of electricity consumption to come from renewable sources by 2030. This is double the current share of renewable electricity and will require development of significant levels of wind and solar generation. It also requires flexible gas-fired generation and storage that can support the variable nature of renewable electricity production and ensure security of electricity supply as we phase out coal and oil for generation.”