WEBINAR 27: Balcas Energy – Delivering decarbonised heat, hot water and process steam through wood pellet biomass.

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A live recording of the webinar can be found HERE

TOPIC OVERVIEW
This webinar showcased the contribution of Balcas Energy to the decarbonisation of heat and process steam.  Wood pellets offer substantial opportunity to decarbonise the heating of commercial operations and domestic homes. Balcas Energy manufactures wood pellets utilising heat and electricity generated from their own onsite biomass CHP unit. At this webinar, we were joined by representatives of Balcas Energy who showcased their business and contribution to the sector.

SPEAKER
Colm Hatton
Balcas, Business Development Manager

Paula Keelagher
Balcas, Marketing Development Manager

Seán Finan
IrBEA CEO, MC/Chair

 

WEBINAR 26 Transport in Ireland: A Pathway to Halving Emissions

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A live recording of the webinar can be found HERE

TOPIC OVERVIEW
In Dec 2021, the Irish Bioenergy Association (IrBEA) published “Transport in Ireland: A Pathway to Halving Emissions – Meeting ambitious emissions reduction in Ireland’s Transport sector and the role of Sustainable Bioenergy”. This report was developed by UCC MaREI on behalf of IrBEA.  At this webinar, the author Dr Paul Deane of UCC MaREI, presented the main findings. This report clearly shows that Ireland has a pathway to halve emissions from Transport through the introduction of a combination of policy interventions and measures including electrification, increased biofuels blending (ethanol and biodiesel), biomethane and driver efficiency measures.
This report was funded through sponsorship contributions from IrBEA, Transport Infrastructure Ireland, Ethanol Europe, Green Biofuels Ireland, Green Generation and 3 Counties Energy Agency.

SPEAKER
Dr Paul Deane – UCC MaREI
PANELLISTS
Paddy Phelan – IrBEA President and 3CEA
James Cogan – Ethanol Europe
Tony Hennebry – Green Biofuels Ireland
Teresa Patton / Billy Costello – Green Generation
Seán Finan, IrBEA CEO, MC/Chair

 

Webinar 25: Outlining the Proposed Renewable Heat Obligation Scheme – The role of Bioenergy

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TOPIC OVERVIEW

The Department of Environment Climate and Communications have published a consultation on the proposed Renewable Heat Obligation Scheme (RHOS) to support the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy. This webinar outlined the main proposals within the proposed scheme and the role of bioenergy in meeting the obligation. The RHOS will mandate heating fuel suppliers to include a portion of renewable fuels in the fuel mix, starting at 0.5% and moving to 3% by 2030. Renewable fuel suppliers will be able to sell fuel or certificates to the fossil fuel suppliers – thus incentivising renewable heating. We anticipate that the RHOS will operate in a similar way to the Biofuel Obligation Scheme which has been operating for over 10 years. Noel Gavigan outlined the proposed framework detailed in the current public consultation and how it will impact the market and consumers.

LIVE RECORDING HERE

SPEAKERS

Noel Gavigan IrBEA Technical Director

Seán Finan IrBEA CEO (Chair)

 

Webinar 24: Support Scheme for Renewable Heat (SSRH) Seminar for Heat Users

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TOPIC OVERVIEW

This online webinar was aimed at heat users who can potentially avail of the Support Scheme for Renewable Heat (SSRH) by transitioning from fossil fuel based heating systems to renewable heat. The SSRH is a government funded initiative designed to increase the energy generated from renewable sources in the heat sector. The scheme is open to commercial, industrial, agricultural, district heating, public sector and other non-domestic heat users.
Energy requirements in many sectors such as hospitality, sport centres, care homes and residential apartments is often very high. Reliable and cost-efficient, woodchip and wood pellet boilers are the ideal solution to reducing your heating costs. Many businesses will be eligible for the Scheme, it will effectively allow high energy demanding businesses to dramatically reduce their heating bills for 15 years. Depending on the heat usage and the size of the installation, up to €25,000/€30,000 per year is available for eligible applications, by switching from fossil, oil and gas to more sustainable biomass or biofuel sources.
This event included contributions the welcome address from William Walsh (SEAI, CEO) and presentations from Ray Langton (SEAI Program Manager SSRH), Noel Gavigan (IrBEA) Joanne Sheehan (Enterprise Ireland) Micheal Fogarty (Katestone Global) and SSRH grant recipients who have already been successful.

LIVE RECORDING – You can view the Presentation here

 

WEBINAR 23: Bioenergy’s contribution to a 40% renewable heat target by 2030

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TOPIC OVERVIEW

Last month Renewable Energy Ireland (REI) launched 40by30 – a renewable heat vision which delivers 40% renewable heat by 2030, developed by XD Consulting it is the country’s first Renewable Heat Plan which sets out an agreed vision from industry for the renewable heat sector. It calls on the  Government to set an ambitious 40% renewable heat target by 2030 in the revised Climate Action Plan. The target can be provided by renewable sources primarily from bioenergy, heat pumps, renewable gas and district heating networks. We can heat our homes, schools, hospitals and businesses using a combination of several different heating technology options. The purpose of this IrBEA webinar was focused on the contribution of bioenergy, including solid biomass and biogas, to the ambitious 40% renewable heat target and outline the main findings and recommendations within the report.  The webinar will include contributions from Paddy Phelan IrBEA President, Dr. Tanya Harrington Chairperson of REI and the report’s author, Xavier Dubuisson of XD Consulting.

LIVE RECORDING

View the live recording here

 

Webinar 22: One Stop Shop – A platform to assist community Energy Projects

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TOPIC OVERVIEW

This webinar focused on the opportunities to support community energy projects through an online collaborative platform called the One Stop Shop. It will outline the particular scope for enabling bioenergy projects, assisting the sector’s growth by developing public recognition, buy-in from stakeholders, and supportive policy measures from the government. The digital ‘One Stop Shop’ (OSS) aims to provide all necessary resources and tools to enable citizens to partake in renewable energy projects, helping them overcome technical and organisational barriers that may be holding them back at present. The OSS provides a space for connection and collaboration to share knowledge and experience of a range of projects, to help more ventures develop and increase the spread of local renewable energy generation. Participants of the site can work collectively to foster the growth of these projects on a national and international scale.

LIVE RECORDING

View live recording here

 

Webinar 21: Incorporating Bioenergy in District Heating Networks

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TOPIC OVERVIEW
This presentation was given by IrBEA members REHAU, who specialises in piping and pipe networks. Irish Bioenergy Association (IrBEA) would like to thank Technical Team Leader Alexandra Leedham and Area Sales Manager Rory Grogan who provided a great presentation on the benefits of using bioenergy fuels in District Heating Networks. They provided an insight into the opportunities which exist for district heating and discussed some interesting projects completed by the company.

LIVE RECORDING
You can view the live recording here

Webinar 20: Biomass Trade Centres – Mobilising Ireland’s bioenergy resources to meet the climate challenge

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For the past 30 years the Irish government and land owners have invested heavily in establishing a national forest estate. The forest inventory is vital for the provision of sustainable building materials such as lumber. Major by-products of this industry are ideal for use as renewable fuel. By products such as sawdust and bark originating from sawmills is ideal for large scale woodchip and wood pellet supply. Sustainable Forest management practices produce large quantities of thinning’s and brash that can deliver significant value to the private forest owner. European private owners have established co-operative structures to trade their by-product materials such as thinning’s, which are processed into useful products such as firewood and woodchip. These structures allow for greater financial control of their forest resource. In this webinar,  IrBEA looked at some of these models and sees if they could be adopted for Irish conditions.

View Live Recording of Presentation here

Speakers:

Noel Gavigan – IrBEA Technical Executive

Sean Finan – IrBEA CEO

Webinar 19: Sustainable bioenergy – Update from Brussels on a fast changing legislative framework

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This webinar focused on the latest policy developments in Brussels regarding Bioenergy including the REDII Directive and the Biodiversity Strategy. It outlined the key findings in the recently published JRC Biomass Report “The use of woody biomass for energy production in the EU” and the review of the Taxonomy Directive.
There was a discussion on the growth of the anti-combustion and anti-bioenergy lobby at a Brussels and an EU level. Webinar participants will also hear about the Lobbying and Advocacy activities of Bioenergy Europe on behalf of the Industry.

View Live Recording of Presentation here

Webinar Speaker
Giulia Cancian

Policy Director at Bioenergy Europe. Giulia Cancian joined the association in 2018. She is responsible for the work of the Advocacy department and sustainability related files. Giulia holds a MA in International Relation from the University of Rome and a MSc in European Affairs from the Free University of Brussels. Before joining Bioenergy Europe, she gained experience on sustainability and energy with the biodiesel, non-ferrous metals and hydropower European trade associations in Brussels.

Webinar No 18: Green Generation – An organisation harnessing the circular economy to decarbonise Ireland

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Green Generation based at Nurney, Co Kildare have been delivering for the Circular Bioeconomy by generating energy from waste for a number of years. This rural enterprise uses Anaerobic Digestion (AD) technology to convert food production waste and farm waste into renewable biogas. This biogas is upgraded to biomethane to produce electricity, heat and transport fuel. In partnership with Paltech, Green Generation are now meeting the global plastics problem head on with patented plastics technology. Teresa Patton, Program Manager at Green Generation talked about the company’s circular economy, their facilities in Kildare and the future developments for the company.

LIVE PRESENTATION HERE

Webinar Speaker
Teresa Patton
Program Manager, Green Generation

 

Teresa is a recent MBA graduate at T.U. Dublin and has a varied professional background having qualified with a BA in Interior Architecture. She travelled extensively through the South Pacific and UK in the 2000s, and returned to Ireland in 2012 to continue her career in the speciality F&B industry.

Upon near completion of her MBA, Teresa started with Green Generation as their Program Manager. Her role entails engaging with an array of organisations, both in FMCG and non food sector, in order to reduce their food waste, while implementing a circular economy by using food waste to produce clean, renewable energy.

IrBEA Panellists
Seán Finan (Chair)
IrBEA CEO

Noel Gavigan
IrBEA Technical Executive

Billy Costello
Green Generation