Biomethane is set to play a critical role in Gas Networks Ireland’s plans to decarbonise the national gas network by 2045. Meanwhile, the Government’s National Biomethane Strategy has set a production target of 5.7 terawatt-hours (TWh) of indigenous biomethane annually by 2030. That’s equivalent to powering half a million homes.
Biomethane is a carbon-neutral renewable gas made from farm and food waste through a process known as anaerobic digestion. Most of the feedstock to fuel this new sector will come from Irish farms, and the Government target represents a significant opportunity for Irish farmers and waste processors, among others.
“There is significant scope for biomethane production in Ireland,” says Karen Doyle, head of business development at Gas Networks Ireland. “The European Commission has identified Ireland as having Europe’s highest potential per capita to produce the gas. But it’s not just valuable for decarbonisation. An indigenous biomethane industry will also provide significant opportunities for rural communities throughout Ireland by taking their carbon-emitting waste and turning it into an energy resource.”
She also points to the circularity of the AD production process. “The CO2 byproduct can be used by the food and beverage industry, and the digestate from the facilities can displace imported fertilisers and so on.”
Doyle has considerable experience in the renewables space, having spent more than 20 years in the financial services sector, where she structured and delivered funding for a number of landmark projects including onshore and offshore wind, and biomass and waste-to-energy projects.
In her current role with Gas Networks Ireland, Doyle is responsible for the development and implementation of the company’s renewable gas programmes. “I am leveraging my experience to drive growth in renewables and to help get the biomethane industry moving,” she says.
She explains the role biomethane has to play alongside electrification in Ireland’s decarbonisation journey: “A lot can be done through electrification but what we’re seeing is that high-heat, hard-to-abate industries and heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) need alternatives. Electrification works for small vehicles like cars and commercial vans. It’s more challenging work for HGVs. Renewable gas delivers what they need. It’s not all about decarbonisation and sustainability, though; biomethane makes sense for their energy needs.”
The statistics are impressive from a decarbonisation point of view. Ireland’s commercial transport fleet may represent just under 4 per cent of vehicles on our roads, but it is responsible for approximately 20 per cent of all transport-related carbon emissions, Doyle explains.
“Biomethane cuts a HGV’s carbon emissions by up to 90 per cent and reduces lifetime vehicle costs compared to diesel,” she adds. “There are now more than 170 gas-powered HGVs on Irish roads and demand for gas in transport increased by 58 per cent year-on-year in 2024.”
The market is responding. “In June 2024, Gas Networks Ireland supported the opening of Flogas’s dedicated bioCNG refuelling station for HGVs in north Co Dublin, capable of reducing CO2 emissions by over 9,000 tonnes annually compared to diesel vehicles.”
More recently, in June of this year Panda opened its new CNG station in Cappagh, Dublin, developed in partnership with Gas Networks Ireland. This brought the number of stations in Ireland to 12. A €750,000 GRAZE Vehicle Grant Scheme has been created to assist Irish fleet operators and hauliers in funding the transition to cleaner gas vehicles, with grants up to €10,000 per vehicle still available.
Transport is just one part of the equation; domestic and commercial heat supplies are even more significant, accounting for around 37 per cent of national energy-related emissions. A significant step towards addressing that was taken earlier this year with the approval by Government of the Renewable Heat Obligation (RHO) Bill, due to come into effect in 2026. The RHO requires heating energy suppliers to incorporate renewable sources including biomethane into their energy mix.
“It places an obligation on heat suppliers to procure 10 per cent of their heat from renewable sources by 2030,” Doyle notes. “It will start at 1.5 per cent in the first year and increase in increments after that. The RHO is designed to support the delivery of the 2030 biomethane target by creating clear demand for renewable gas. Gas Networks Ireland is working closely with Government and industry to ensure the network is ready to support this scale-up by facilitating biomethane injection into the gas network.”
That includes the development of a €32 million Central Grid Injection (CGI) facility in Mitchelstown, Co Cork. Currently in construction, this facility will inject up to 700 gigawatt hours (GWh) of renewable gas into the national network annually, contributing 12 per cent of the 2030 biomethane production target and reducing national CO2 emissions by 130,000 tonnes each year. This will be just one of a number of CGIs the organisation is planning to develop around the country.
In addition, Gas Networks Ireland has signed an agreement with Evergreen Agricultural Enterprises Ltd to connect the company’s new anaerobic digestion (AD) facility in Monasterevin, Co Kildare to the national gas network. The facility will process spent grains and other byproducts from the distilling industry. Once operational, it will process up to 100,000 tonnes of agricultural byproducts and produce up to 100GWh of renewable biomethane annually – enough to heat more than 8,000 homes – and is expected to cut Ireland’s carbon dioxide emissions by almost 18,500 tonnes annually.
“Momentum is building and we are seeing interest from international investors,” says Doyle. “Nephin Energy is owned by Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, for example. Ara Partners and Cycle0 are also showing interest. These are very savvy investors. It’s very positive to see international investors come in at such an early stage. It took 10 to 12 years for that to happen with wind.”
While the RHO is welcome, the question of where the biomethane comes from does arise. It is critical that Irish-produced biomethane is prioritised to ensure local economic benefits will not be lost.
One solution, according to Doyle, is to make Irish-produced biomethane more valuable to heat providers than imported alternatives. She explains that producers that inject biomethane into the network will receive renewable gas certificates issued by Gas Networks Ireland.
The potential is there and Gas Networks Ireland is investing in the infrastructure to support the home-grown biomethane industry. All it needs is some certainty around the RHO to accelerate progress. “We did a study in 2022 to determine market interest in producing biomethane,” says Doyle. “We found that we could meet up to 14TW of gas. If we did the study again, we believe we would get a significantly higher figure. This shows that the 5.7TW target is more than achievable if the right conditions are in place.”
The benefits will be significant. “Producers will get into arrangements with local farmers to buy feedstock for a number of years at an agreed price. In Denmark, there are arrangements where they will take slurry and might give back the digestate for free. The Nitrates Directive will have difficult impacts for farmers, with predictions of a 39 per cent income drop for dairy farms. Biomethane is offering an alternative revenue stream and offering the farming community something complementary to their core business while also reducing the overall nitrate levels on their farms.
“We are also speaking to our Danish colleagues about what they have achieved in biomethane production,” Doyle adds. “There is a thriving R&D sector around it creating more value added byproducts. We can do the same here in Ireland but we need to get the RHO over the line from Europe first.”
For more information, visit gasnetworks.ie/biomethane