Calls for biogas curbs

‘Sad loss’ if Ballymackey plan does not proceed

The proposer of a controversial biogas development in Ballymackey has said it will be a “sad loss” for the area if the project does not go ahead.

Representatives of groups opposed to biogas plans around the country – including those at Ballymackey and at Annaholty near Birdhill – met last week to press home their call for national safeguards where planning applications for such facilities are made. They made known their concerns to consultancy firm Arup, which has been commissioned by the Government to prepare non-statutory guidance to support local authorities in assessing applications for anaerobic digestion (AD) and biomethane facilities.

Tipperary Co Council has sought further information on the plan by Annaholty Green Energy Ltd for construction of an AD plant at Thornhill, Annaholty. It is designed to process up to 50,000 tonnes of agricultural feedstocks into biogas per year.

A much larger facility, with capacity for a reported 200,000 tonnes per year, has been proposed for Woodville, Ballymackey by Tipperary Milling Co Unlimited Company. Director Tim Cullinan this week said that while a planning application has yet to be submitted, the company remains committed to a project that he believed would be of great benefit to North Tipperary.

“We’re working away on it and hopefully it will go through. It will be a loss for the area if it doesn’t go through, Mr Cullinan said of the proposal. “It’s the people in the region – it will be their sad loss if this project doesn’t go ahead.”

‘NOT NEAR ME’

While not opposed to biogas or AD technology, the Ballymackey Biogas Concern Group strongly believes that Woodville is the wrong location for the size and nature of the project proposed. This view is disputed by Mr Cullinan.

“We all understand people’s concerns but, nationally, if everybody said: ‘this is a great idea, but not near me’, we’d never achieve anything,” he commented. “I am very concerned about energy supply. As a nation, we need to be looking at indigenous energy or an alternative energy supply. We all know where the world is at at the moment,” Mr Cullinan said.

“We have serious targets to achieve by 2030 in emissions, and also we have a lot of concerns around water quality. Our project is front and centre and is genuinely going to help,” he said, adding that the Ballymackey proposal would achieve “huge goals in terms of improving water quality and reducing emissions”.

‘COMMUNITY PROJECT’

The local farmer said he tried to explain his views to people at a public meeting in Toomevara last year. He hoped that his proposal could become a “community project” in which people would get involved. He said he respects the opinions expressed at that meeting and has taken all concerns on board.

“I have a high-level team of people working on this project,” Mr Cullinan said. “They have looked at all the elements that have been raised in the local community. As far as we’re concerned, all of those concerns are being addressed.”

Tipperary Milling Co has notified An Coimisiún Pleanála of the proposal and has sought a determination that may lead to a planning application dealt with directly by the commission, rather than Tipperary Co Council. While he had no indication as to the progress of this application, Mr Cullinan said that ultimately the matter would come down to the planning process and all parties would be able to make their case then.

‘INDUSTRIAL-SCALE’

Guidelines used by planners in that process were the centre of attention at last week’s meeting in Ballymackey Community Centre. Around 15 community groups from across Ireland where AD and biomethane facilities have been proposed were represented by the National Biogas Concern Group.

The NBCG warned that national planning guidance for “industrial-scale” biogas plants, like the one at Ballymackey – which members of the group have said would be the largest in Ireland – will not recommend mandatory separation distances from homes. Potential risks range from unpleasant odours to increased heavy goods vehicle traffic, noise, pollution of rivers or groundwater, and risk of gas leaks and explosions.

The NBCG made five principal requests of Arup, primarily in relation to suitable locations for such facilities. The group added 13 recommendations in its detailed submission to Arup, as well as a suggested checklist to assist planners with making decisions on applications for biogas projects.

The NBCG’s central message was that mitigation cannot always fix a fundamentally unsuitable site. “Community groups are not opposed to anaerobic digestion or renewable energy,” said Henry Mooney of the National Biogas Concern Group. “We recognise the potential benefits of appropriately scaled and suitably located facilities. However, environmental controls and community engagement cannot compensate for a fundamentally unsuitable location.”

LEARNING FROM EUROPE

Mr Mooney pointed to planning and regulatory safeguards used elsewhere in Europe, saying France requires minimum residential separation distances for certain categories of AD facilities. Municipalities in Denmark, such as Ringsted, have established minimum distances of 300 metres from rural homes and 500 metres from residential settlements for larger communal biogas plants.

"We should be learning from other European countries rather than developing a large new industry without clear and enforceable national siting requirements," Mr Mooney said.

The NBCG recommended a default separation distance of 1,000 metres from dwellings and other sensitive receptors – as already determined in Irish planning regulations where chemical processing involving flammable or toxic substances is involved - applied as a locational criterion at site-selection stage.

The concern group believes that the number and scale of proposed developments across Ireland underline an urgent need for consistent national planning regulations, particularly regarding site selection, residential separation distances and the suitability of rural road networks. But it also believes that non-statutory guidance alone is not enough, and it intends to raise these concerns with the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Agriculture and Food, and seek further engagement with the Biomethane Implementation Group.

“Renewable energy development is important, but getting the location right from the outset is critically important,” Mr Mooney concluded.