Farmers in Cavan must be the big winners from an Irish biomethane sector producing renewable gas if it is to be successfully developed at scale. That's according to Cavan Senator Joe O'Reilly. Senator O'Reilly was speaking after Government published its new biomethane strategy which sets out the pathway to delivering up to 5.7 Terawatt hours of indigenous produced biomethane by 2030 equating to approximately 10% of Ireland's current gas demand.
In a statement issued to Northern Sound, Senator O'Reilly said; "We are all aware of the need to decarbonise our energy system and biomethane is an obvious replacement for natural gas to which there is currently no alternative. This creates a tangible opportunity for farmers in Cavan to generate an additional income from their farm through supplying feedstocks to anaerobic digestion plants.
"We have been behind other EU countries in developing a biomethane sector but we are now at the starting line with this strategy. Fine Gael believes making sure farmers in Cavan and across the country are at the centre of the development of this industry will be crucial to its success and achieving widespread buy-in.
"I welcome recognition in the strategy of the potential benefits of pursuing a co-operative model whereby farmers in a locality could be more than just the suppliers of feedstock. It has worked in our dairy industry and I believe it could work in the biomethane sector too."
