Annaholty Green Energy Limited is seeking a 10-year permission to construct two primary anaerobic digesters with a height 18.5m at Thornhill and Annaholty, Birdhill.
The council received the plans on October 2 and they are at pre-validation stage. The proposals also involve the construction of one secondary digester-storage tank with a dome height of 16.5m, one digestate storage tank with a dome height of 16.5m, two manure reception tanks with dome heights of 12m, and one desulphurisation unit.
Additionally, the plans envisage one small tank (3.2m high), two larger tanks (9.8m and 11.8m high), two pasteurisation tanks (5.6m high), two cooling tanks (5.6m high), one external solid input device, and one pump room. These components would be located within a containment bund.
The proposed development will also consist of one feedstock reception hall (1,800sqm) with an air filtration unit, one underground mixing tank, offices, and and a workshop.
There would be five silage clamps, one storage shed, a rainwater harvesting tank, a fire water storage tank, plant room, two CHP units and chillers, one bunded biofuel tank and a diesel tank.
Provision is made for one de-watering storage building with an air filtration unit, an ESB substation building, one biomethane upgrade unit, a carbon dioxide capture unit, and one two-storey administration building containing offices, laboratories, and welfare facilities.
There is to be one LPG compound with a bunded wall containing two propane tanks, an emergency flare, a Gas Networks Ireland (GNI) compound kiosk, a firewater retention pond, infiltration basin, an underground silage clamp tank, along with boundary treatments and tree felling to facilitate construction and operation of the proposed development. A new site entrance is proposed, and security gates.
A report prepared by Malone O’Regan environmental consultants on behalf of the applicant states that Greensource Limited is the parent company of Annaholty Green Energy Limited.
“Greensource Limited have, for over 20 years, developed a fleet of renewable energy projects in both wind and renewable gas, including the first commercial-scale anaerobic digestion plant in Ireland, in 2010, located in Shanagolden, Co Limerick,” according to the report.
The M7 motorway runs parallel to the southern boundary of the site, with junction 27 located 3.5km northeast of the proposed development. The River Shannon is 2.1km to the northwest of the site at its closest point. The site itself and to its northeast consists of mixed woodland.
The closest residential dwelling is off the R445 along the local road, around 70m from the proposed entrance to the site.
“The proposed development will support sustainable energy production in light of the climate emergency through renewable gas production, bio-fertiliser production and carbon dioxide capture,” add the consultants.
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“The captured renewable gas will be upgraded from raw biogas to biomethane and injected via on-site infrastructure into the local Gas Network Ireland (GNI) pipe network located in proximity to the site.”
The project would process around 50,000 tonnes per annum of agricultural feedstocks such as farmyard manures and slurries, poultry litter, maize and grass silage.
“The applicant will endeavour to source materials within a 50km radius where feasible. Due to the nature of the market, different producers of biomass will supply the proposed development, and specific sources cannot be identified with certainty until the renewable gas facility is constructed.
“Biomethane has been successfully flowing into the Irish gas network since 2019. Many sectors have benefited and continue to benefit from this renewable industry, such as heating, transport, industry, power generation and the agri-food sector.
“This national source of energy also reduces Ireland’s reliance on imported energy and allows the Irish agricultural sector to contribute further to delivering carbon emissions reductions,” adds the consultant’s report.
The council is due to make a decision by November 26. The deadline for submissions is November 5 next.