Gas Networks Ireland and Bia Energy have reached a major milestone in Ireland’s energy transition with the announcement this week of the successful connection of Bia Energy’s €90 million renewable biomethane gas facility in Huntstown, Co. Dublin to the national gas network.
This marks the first time that a biomethane production plant has been directly connected to the State’s national gas network, thereby enabling the renewable biomethane gas produced on-site to be injected into the gas network for use by businesses and industry across Ireland.
Along with Bia Energy, Gas Networks Ireland has connection agreements with six other biomethane producers, which collectively will play a significant role in supporting the State’s targets for renewable gas generation.
BIOMETHANE
Renewable biomethane gas is fully compatible with the existing national gas network and all existing appliances, technologies and vehicles that currently use gas. Biomethane seamlessly replaces natural gas to reduce emissions in heating, industry, transport, and power generation.
Structurally identical to natural gas, biomethane is a carbon neutral renewable gas that can be made from farm and food waste through a natural biological process known as anaerobic digestion. In addition to producing renewable gas, the process also creates a nutrient-rich biofertiliser called digestate which can be used to replace chemical fertilisers and recycle nutrients back into the food production system, with significant positive circular economy and environmental benefits.
Bia Energy is one of seven biomethane companies that recently received funding under the Government’s National Biomethane Strategy Capital Grant Scheme. It received almost €3.9 million from the scheme to assist with its capital costs.
HELPING REDUCE EMISSIONS
Speaking as he officially launched Bia Energy’s connection to the national gas grid, the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine of Ireland, Martin Heydon TD, said that the connection of the facility at Huntstown represents ‘a significant step forward in the development of Ireland’s renewable gas sector’.
“It demonstrates how agricultural and organic waste can be converted into a valuable renewable energy source, reducing emissions and enhancing energy security,” the minister said.
“The project also delivers benefits for agriculture through the production of digestate, which can be used as an alternative to chemical fertilisers, supporting more sustainable farming practices and a circular economy. Last month, the Government started issuing €19 million in funding to projects such as Bia Energy’s Huntstown facility that were successful under the 2024 Biomethane Capital Grant Scheme.”
FURTHER EXPANSION
To facilitate Bia Energy’s direct connection to the national gas network, Gas Networks Ireland built an extension to the existing gas network and a new Biomethane Network Entry Facility, enabling the biomethane produced at the site in Huntstown to be safely and efficiently injected into the gas network.
Bia Energy’s biomethane plant at Huntstown, which is part of the Sretaw group founded by Irish businessman Eamon Waters, is using short-dated and surplus packaged food from the retail and hospitality sectors, as well materials from agriculture and food production and converting these organic items into renewable biomethane.
Once operating at full capacity, the Huntstown plant is expected to deliver up to 120 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of biomethane annually into the gas network.
Bia Energy will also shortly expand its biomethane production portfolio to include a facility in Kildare.
