GNI welcomes the inclusion of CPO 15.4 which is about facilitating the development of waste-to-energy facilities, particularly the use of landfill gas and biological waste, and the fact that Wicklow County Council recognises that waste disposal and damaging emissions to the environment are one of the most problematic areas of environmental management. Agriculture is a necessary part of Irish life, but farms produce waste and that waste must be managed and minimised where possible. The recently published EU Strategy[1] to reduce methane emissions explicitly identifies the role that AD can play in reducing emissions from agriculture. The EU methane emissions strategy highlights that EU agriculture is the biggest contributor to man-made methane emissions, accounting for 53% of all emissions, followed by 26% from waste and 19% from energy. Within agriculture itself, most of these emissions come from livestock with enteric fermentation accounting for around 80% of all methane emissions, and close to 20% coming from manure management. AD plants can utilise a wide variety of feedstocks ranging from food wastes, to animal slurries and specifically grown energy crops such as grass silage. These feedstocks are broken down to produce biogas, which can be upgraded to biomethane. This biomethane can then be injected into the gas network at appropriate points and transported to all gas consumers. Anaerobic digestion is a way of minimising wastes and contributing to the circular economy with the production of renewable gas and digestate/bio-fertiliser.
[1] https://ec.europa.eu/energy/sites/ener/files/eu_methane_strategy.pdf