Company identifies Limerick as home for plant

LIMERICK is set to benefit from a share in a €100m investment a firm is making in biomethane plants.

CycleØ Group, which builds, owns and operates plants across Europe, has said it will be building four new biomethane plants in Ireland.

And one of these will be in Limerick, with developers scoping out sites in the county.

A site is currently being identified in the county, with the plant expected to generate enough power to heat 3,000 homes a year.

New, green energy jobs are also promised.

The building and operation of the plants will be managed and overseen by a team led by James Manley, the company’s country manager for Ireland.

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Also known as renewable gas, biomethane is produced from biogas which has undergone a treatment known as ‘upgrading’.

The plant proposed for Limerick will include the company’s ammoniacal nitrate stripping solutions.

This will see the byproduct left over after the upgrading converted into an organic fertiliser.

This technology has already been successfully deployed in Spain by CycleØ.

The firm hopes the development of these projects will generate long-term additional revenue for farmers and their communities and will deliver decarbonisation solutions for them.

Mr Manley said: “Using agri-waste to produce biomethane ticks so many boxes – it helps farmers solve their waste management problems, delivers low-cost nutrient-rich fertilisers to support Irish agriculture and brings new green jobs to rural communities.”

“This is a great day for Ireland – both for farms and for Ireland’s overall net zero ambitions,” Laurence Molke, the chief executive of CycleØ added.

CycleØ bosses will organise a series of face-to-face meetings with farmers. It’s hoped from their point of view, this will show the benefit of partnering with the company, headquartered in London.