Ireland is way behind the rest of Europe when it comes to anaerobic digestion (AD). That’s according to councillors in Cavan who discussed why the initiative is not taking off on farms across the county, during this week’s meeting of the local authority.
AD is a process through which bacteria breaks down organic matter including animal manure, wastewater biosolids, and food wastes in the absence of oxygen. Meanwhile, the meeting heard there were 103 anaerobic digesters in Northern Ireland; 232 in Germany; 131 in France; and just eight in the Republic of Ireland.
Cllr Sarah O’Reilly pointed out that they were costly to build and the return was based on the amount of renewable energy generated. The Council executive told those gathered that the current ‘financial model’ "doesn’t stack up".
It added that while it will support farmers who go down that route, anaerobic digestion is "not the silver bullet" that is needed.
