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Landfill Levy Increased to € /65 tonne

With effect from 1 July 2012, the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government increased the landfill levy, using the power available to him under the Waste Management Acts. The Waste Management (Landfill Levy) (Amendment) Regulations 2012 (SI No. 221 of 2012) increased the landfill levy by €15 to €65 per tonne for each tonne of waste disposed of at authorised and unauthorised landfill facilities.

New Composting Site- M & T Plant Hire Ltd

M&T Plant Hire Ltd. was founded by Tom Murray in 1980. Initially the company was set-up to hire out waste water treatment equipment. From small beginnings, the company quickly grew by diverging into various other specialist areas includingdrain cleaning, sludge transportation and cctv surveying and they have now developed a new composting facility (pictured above) in Enniscorthy, Co Wexford. The facility composts sewage sludge. Today over 20 people are employed by M&T, mainly based out of the head office in Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford, with offices also in Carlow and Waterford.

AD NI 2012 1st National Anaerobic Digestion Trade Show and Conference

3 October 2012 ,Hilton Hotel Templepatrick, Belfast

www.adni2012.co.uk

Key Speakers

' , ,Michelle O Neill MLA Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Harm Grobru ,gge German Biogas Association

Issue 38. July 2012

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A Note to Members Dear all, The landfill levy has increased to €65/ tonne; this is welcomed by the Association. The new ‘Waste Policy’ has just been published and we will have details on it in the next newsletter. We will hold a members meeting in the autumn to discuss the new policy and changes. Final arrangements have been made for AD NI 2012 and a programme has been emailed to everyone. Bookings for the event can be made through the website: www.adni2012.co.uk. There will be a number of speakers at the event, including Harm Grobrugge from the German Biogas Association. Harm has been associated with the German industry from its genesis and it appears to have had similar issues to the NI industry. At this stage AD plants have been certified as High Efficiency CHP and have applied for REFIT 3. We will review people’s experience of this process in the next newsletter. And finally congratulations to M & T Plant Hire on the opening of their new composting facility in Wexford. Best Wishes, Percy

Planning for an Anaerobic Digestion Plant Training Course

Delegates at the GreenGas AD plant during the course

Another successful AD training course was held with 25 people in Adare on 18 & 19 June. Special thanks are due to all the trainers- Jerry Murphy (UCC), David McDonnell (GreenGas), Ian Farr (Edina), Joseph Maher (Edina), Alan Mitchell (SLR Consulting), Maeve English (Fehily Timoney & Co) Jack O’Keeffe (Larchmount Consulting) and Ciaran Donnelly (Wind Prospect). Pictured above are the delegates at the Green Gas AD plant. The visit was kindly hosted by David and Michael McDonnell.

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AD NI 2012 1st National Anaerobic Digestion

Trade Show and Conference

3 October 2012

,Hilton Hotel Templepatrick, Belfast

www.adni2012.co.uk

Key Speakers

' ,Michelle O Neill ,MLA Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Harm Grobru ,gge German Biogas Association

The inaugural National Anaerobic Digestion Trade Show and Conference – ‘AD NI’ will be held on 3

rd October

2012 in the Hilton Hotel Templepatrick, Belfast. Since the Renewable Obligations Certificates (ROCs) were launched, there has been nearly 80 planning applications to build mostly on farm anaerobic digestion plants, of these applications approximately 30 have received full planning permission. This demonstrates the significant opportunity farmers are embracing to diversify their farming activities. At this stage, Cre wants to take stock of developments since ROCs were launched to review, assess and debate issues and opportunities arising around the development of the anaerobic digestion industry. Recently some significant issues have arisen such as securing feedstocks, gaining finance and grid connection. The event will provide independent facts on these key issues from various experts in the field. As such, this is the first event on AD to really explore these key issues and discuss solutions to them. The Germany industry had similar issues to NI during the development stage and Harm Grobrugge from the German Biogas Association will outline how these issues were overcome in Germany.

Main Sponsors

ExhibitorsExhibitorsExhibitorsExhibitors

Ecocem Clarke Energy FLI Energy Xergi Evergreen

Edina SLR Consulting Moore Biosystems Duggan Energy

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Gerry Bird – An Appreciation By Percy Foster

It was a great shock to everyone to hear of the sudden death of Gerry Bird. Many of the compost operators knew Gerry well. Gerry was a keen agronomist and an advocate of replacing organic matter back to soils and this is where his relationship with our sector developed roots. Gerry over the years became a key advocate of the use of compost to replace organic matter in soils but also of all the added benefits of using compost compared to other material. In 2005, Gerry and his colleague David O’Connell did the first large scientific tillage trials, using compost from Natural World Products, on the Ballinderry Research Farm in Enfield. Compost was applied on tillage farms in the area to determine the practical operations of trying to work with professional tillage farmers and to gauge the interest from the farmers. This initial trial was then taken over and funded by WRAP Northern Ireland for a further two years. During this time, Gerry and his colleagues kindly hosted at least five site visits for Cre members and most notably hosted a private workshop for the ABP forum with the Department of Agriculture and Department of Environment, Community and Local Government. Subsequent to that meeting, we successfully lobbied the Department of Agriculture to change their position on a 3 year access ban to land where compost was spread to the EU norm of three weeks. Gerry had bundles of enthusiasm and had his own unique character as a great trainer. Within five minutes of a presentation he was able to captivate an audience and get across the message on compost. Over the years Gerry presented at several Cré events, most notably at the International Compost Conference in Dublin Castle (pictured above), at least five times on the Certificate in Compost Facility Operation course and last year he spoke to several farming groups on the use of compost as part of the Cré Skillnet programme. As Gerry always said at the end of his presentations – Sin é. Our sympathies go to Gerry’s family and his brother in law – Maurice Cremin (Cremin Farm Compost).

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Rx3 Updates

,By Conor McGovern RX3 Compost quality assurance scheme update Work on the national compost quality assurance scheme (CQAS) project, which started in 2011 is proceeding well. The project comprises three phases;

1. Initial drafting relevant CQAS documentation. 2. Trialling of the draft CQAS at a selected number of suitable compost

facilities over a twelve month period June 2011-2012. 3. Operating the CQAS on a pilot basis at individual compost facilities

also over a twelve month period July 2012-2013. Certification Europe has developed a quality assurance mark to assist in marketing and identifying high quality compost and in increasing overall awareness and understanding of issues in quality compost.

Logo of the Irish compost quality assurance scheme The first phase of the project was completed in 2011. The second phase is proceeding well, with twenty composting facilities participating. The third phase is expected to commence in July and the first facilities expected to be certified later in July. See www.rx3.ie/National-Compost-Quality-Assurance-Scheme for details. Rx3 directory Rx3 provides a free-to-all up to date directory of recycled products and reprocessors on its website, including composting facilities and compost products as well as plastic, paper and other products and reprocessors. The directory is designed to enable buyers to browse by material type or by sector (e.g. construction, retail, landscaping etc.). The directory contains information in relation to product description, availability, and contact details of product suppliers and reprocessors. The directory lists 25 composting facilities as service and product suppliers, and further additions are always welcome. To view the directory and for a link to add/edit facility or product details, visit www.rx3.ie/Directories Feasibility study grant aid projects News and results from feasibility study grant aid projects completed in 2011 and 2012 is published on the rx3 website at www.rx3.ie/Organics Rx3 map of organic waste management facilities Rx3 is tasked with delivering information about the Irish market for recyclable materials. Accordingly, rx3 has published a map showing locations and details of organic waste processing facilities on the island of Ireland on its website. This map lists composting facilities, anaerobic digestion facilities and mushroom compost production facilities on the Island of Ireland. See www.rx3.ie/Irish-Composting-Facilities-Map

Grass and arable crop trials using compost and digestate Crop demonstration trials have been a feature of compost marketing in countries that have successfully introduced widespread composting of organic wastes by demonstrating benefits of compost use to farmers. Therefore, rx3 appointed a contractor to deliver a 24-month (recently extended by 12 months) project demonstrating market potential and to quantify technical, environmental, and financial aspects of the approach, to produce results to aid adoption of best practice on Irish working farms. The long term objective is to increase agricultural use of compost.

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Surveying crop trial plots in Tipperary Five farms were selected, each growing either spring barley or winter wheat or grass silage, to trial and demonstrate use of high quality food waste derived compost and digestate against use of slurry and inorganic fertiliser in a commercial farming environment.

Crop trials were conducted using commercial equipment Second year preliminary results, now available (May 2012), indicate a range of beneficial effects and practical learning’s. These include: digestate and inorganic fertilisers showed similar nitrogen release rates; soil organic matter increase with use of organic fertilisers, with increased soil activity; compost application timing is important to ensure adequate incorporation; compost is well suited to grass/clover, with steady N-release; yields may increase.

Information dissemination is a key element of the rx3 programme Laboratory work is also being conducted to support the field work. A detailed chemical characterisation of the compost and digestate used in the trials is being conducted. Also, incubation trials are studying nitrogen and phosphorus (N and P) availability of compost and digestate when mixed with soil. Further still, pot-plant growth trials using grass are ongoing to determine relative availability of organic N and P relative to inorganic N and P. These results of these analyses will be published July 2012.

Pot-plant growth trials using grass For information about the trials, see www.rx3.ie/rx3-Compost-Demonstration-Trials

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Why Anaerobic Digestion is Good for your Farm

By Will Liewellyn Evergreen Farmers are under pressure to protect themselves from rising costs, comply with changes in legislation and to produce more at lower cost. Anaerobic Digestion is viewed by many as a step towards self-sufficiency and can be an invaluable component of any farm provided the AD plant is correctly sized for the farm and is well run.

Many farms in the UK, Germany, France and other European countries look to AD to digest both manures and crop feedstocks either jointly (codigestion) or independently of each other. The outcome of digestion is a continuous supply of renewable energy which can be sold and often commands a subsidy for its generation, and a very useful biofertiliser (digestate). Digestate enables a farmer to keep nutrients in the farm and reduces reliance on imported fertiliser. Some operators also import waste materials such as household foodwaste, or materials derived from the retail and food-processing industries as feedstocks, but additional equipment must be fitted to the plant to ensure compliance with waste handling legislation.

AD is becoming increasingly popular thanks to its combination of energy production and fertiliser enhancement. The outputs are valuable, and the energy is continuous. A well-run farm AD plant can have an availability of at least 80%, and will keep generating even if it is dark or the wind is not blowing. The key to successful integration of an AD plant onto a farm is to find an AD plant that is the right size for the farm meaning that it requires an achievable quantity of feedstock and is at the right price. Cases where the AD plant outputs cover farm energy requirements and result in surplus energy for export enable the farmer to move towards energy self-sufficiency and to diversify farm income. Smaller-scale systems are appearing in the market making AD available to a larger number of farms.

Biogas is typically 55-60% methane by volume and typical uses for biogas are for the production of heat only, heat and power and for cleaning up to a high concentration of methane. For heat only applications, a boiler will typically convert 85% of the energy in the biogas into heat. This is the cheapest and simplest use for the gas. The second use is to generate heat and electricity. Biogas is burned in a gas engine attached to a generator to generate electricity. Waste heat from the engine’s exhaust, coolant and oil is captured and used to heat water that has a variety of uses. An AD plant requires a small percentage of the electricity it generates to run itself. The surplus heat and electricity is available for use on the farm and ultimately, any spare can be exported and sold. The third use of the biogas is called “upgrading” and the carbon dioxide and other impurities are removed to yield a high methane concentration (97%) gas which can then be injected into the gas grid as a substitute for fossil gas. It can also be used as a vehicle fuel.

Electricity generation is incentivised in the Republic of Ireland under the REFIT regime introduced in Feb 2012, which for AD plants less that 500kW is €0.15 per kWh of electricity exported into the grid. In order to qualify for this tariff, 70% of the surplus heat form the AD plant must be used beneficially, otherwise the tariff is reduced to €0.11 per kWh. The export rate is index linked, so a figure of €0.017 can be added as well as an uplift to account for distribution and transmission losses. We understand that if the AD developer becomes a licensed electricity supplier, an additional €0.085 can be achieved.

In Northern Ireland, electricity from AD plants below 250kW is eligible for quadruple ROC’s. The ROC (Renewable Obligation Certificate) is a tradable entity and is worth approximately 4.5 pence per kWh. The effect of this incentive is increased interest in installing AD plants as farmers look to diversify.

Grid connection is needed to export electricity. Many farms have a three-phase electricity supply to the farm, but in some cases a farm may be on single phase only, or the grid is at capacity, so additional grid capacity will need to be installed to enable export. This can have a dramatic effect on the economic viability of an AD project. There is no straight answer for the cost of this connection, because it depends on the size of the connection (in kW) and will increase with distance to the nearest point of connection. That said, if there is already a three-phase connection to the site and there is spare capacity in the network, then the connection may be relatively inexpensive. The local District Network Operator (DNO) has this information, and should be approached early on in any AD project. Despite occasional high costs for grid connections, the small-scale installer may be allowed a smile because if you are installing a small CHP, then the cost of grid connection will be lower than a large plant.

After digester heating has been taken care of, surplus heat from biogas CHP is can be used on the farm or sold to neighbours. There is a significant quantity of heat that is available for use after process requirements. Typical examples of heat use are heating farm buildings and cottages, dairy hot water, heating cattle drinking water, drying logs, heating poultry sheds and the list goes on.

The amount of process heat a plant to maintain digester temperature depends on the feedstock. Plants digesting high proportions of liquid feedstock require more heat than plants with a relatively high component of crop feedstocks, but in most cases the CHP produces enough heat for this.

Digestate is important for on-farm AD plants, because it is a valuable biofertiliser. The digestion process increases the proportion of plant available nitrogen in the digestate relative to the feedstock as nitrogen in

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proteins is converted to ammonia. The enhancement of the fertiliser value enables a farmer to reduce his dependence on mineral fertilisers and reduces his costs of production.

The economics of an AD project depend on three key parameters: Capital cost of plant, operational costs and income. A plant’s income less operational cost must be proportionate to capital cost in order to generate sufficient return on capital and make the project financially attractive. A small-scale AD plant can generate a good return on capital so long as the income and operational costs are consistent with the capital cost.

Dairy Farms stand to benefit from AD. Encouraged to manage their slurry, they have high electricity consumption to run the parlour and refrigerate milk, and require year-round hot water.

Even slurry-only digesters can be made economically viable without additional crops. What is needed is a lower cost plant from the outset. There is movement in small-scale arena, with new companies like Evergreen Gas Ltd reacting to this demand. They bring low cost, value engineered AD plants capable of achieving good returns on capital and delivering the benefits of AD on a small-scale but without the high price tag. Installing a small-scale AD plant should be an attractive proposition to farmers because in the future, they may be encouraged to further reduce their carbon footprint, and AD enables them to mitigate fugitive methane emissions to atmosphere, depend less on imported fertilisers and to generate renewable energy. AD is unique as it delivers a combination of these factors, not just energy generation.

The case is strong for small-scale AD plants. In addition to providing energy security to farms, reducing costs and being a valuable diversification opportunity, beneficial use of the outputs from AD reduces the carbon footprint of food production. Technology is reacting to the market’s demand for affordable AD solutions that can stand up, and there is hope that the small-scale sector will enjoy a surge in activity.

Cré Training 2012

Course Expected Date of Course

Cost for Members

Cost for Non-Members

AD NI 2012 3 October £75 £200

Members Networking Event – ‘Industry Updates’

Oct or Nov TBC

Resource Ireland, RDS – Food Waste Seminar hosted by stopfoodwaste.ie & foodwaste.ie

18 October Free Free

Certificate in Compost Facility Operation

Oct/Nov €1195 €1875

Newsletters We would be delighted to hear from you and to discuss any successes or future plans which you might want to share with the readership. Members are welcome to submit articles for the Cré newsletter. Please email articles to Percy Foster at percy@cre.ie. While steps have been taken to ensure its accuracy, Cré cannot accept responsibility or be held liable to any person for any loss or damage arising out of or in connection with this information being inaccurate, incomplete or misleading. The listing or featuring of a particular product or company does not constitute an endorsement by Cré and Cré cannot guarantee the performance of individual products or materials. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or part is prohibited without prior written approval from Cré. Cré – Composting and Anaerobic Digestion Association of Ireland, PO Box 13, Dundalk, Co Louth t: 086 812 9260 e: info@cre.ie