Ireland pushes bio-energy with €30M research parks

Irish investors are planning seven €30 million ($43.9 million USD) bio-energy parks for cleantech companies, agri-food businesses and sustainable product developers.

The Green Energy Service Companies (GESCOs) network revealed plans this week at the National Ploughing Championships in Kilkenny, saying the first park will be built in southeast Ireland. Developers are still narrowing down the locations.

The park is being funded by the regional offices of GESCOs and a mix of equity and debt from technology investment funds, the group said. GESCOs are producer-owned, rural-based businesses that grow, store and process bio-energy products, as well as develop, install and finance projects designed to improve energy efficiency.

GESCOs were developed by the Green Energy Growers Association, a national non-profit organization in Ireland established in 2005 to help farmers produce carbon-neutral energy.

The country has invested heavily in cleantech in recent months, with goals to halve its carbon emissions within 12 years and get to carbon net-zero by 2035. The government is investing $16.5 billion into renewable energy and clean technology, and the state-owned Electricity Supply Board plans to spend €22 billion into wind, wave, tidal, biomass, smart metering and smart networks (see Ireland to pump $16.5B into renewables).

Much of the focus in Ireland has been on developing tidal and wave power, with the government announcing $38 million for research and facilities and a new feed-in tariff (see Ireland launches marine power initiative).

The bio-energy park is expected to help cleantech companies and developers reduce costs by sharing space and stable energy costs. Organizers said the park took four years of research and planning by experts in Ireland, Britain, France and the U.S.

GESCOs said it expects to announce the location of the first bio-energy center next month.

Ireland is hoping energy crops such as willow and miscanthus can help meet escalating energy demands. The country must use 20 times more land than it currently does to grow bio-energy crops to meet renewable targets of 15 percent of energy by 2010 and 33 percent by 2020, according to advisory body Teagasc.