Action Renewables

A Study into the Renewable Energy Resource in the Six Counties of Northern Ireland

Generic Resource Opportunities March 2004 ACTION RENEWABLES/PB POWER Unexploited renewable energy resources

GENERIC RESOURCE OPPORTUNITIES March 2004 LEGEND Northern Ireland Transmission System:

275kV CIRCUIT 110kV CIRCUIT

Renewable Energy Resource OFFSHORE WIND ONSHORE WIND HYDRO-ELECTRIC SAWMILL WASTE POULTRY LITTER ENERGY FROM WASTE

NOTES 1. The amount of renewable energy resource which could be exploited for electrical generation is marked in MW next to the respective location (i.e. the figure is MW electrical)

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contents

Page Page

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS 4 2.3 Down 22 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 6 2.3.1 Offshore wind 22 2.3.2 Onshore wind 22 1 INTRODUCTION 10 2.3.3 Biomass 22 1.1 Resources considered 11 2.3.4 Hydro-electricity 23 1.2 Methodology 11 2.3.5 Tidal power 23 1.3 Existing renewable energy schemes in Northern Ireland 12 2.3.6 Municipal and agricultural wastes 24 1.4 NIE transmission and distribution system 13 2.3.7 Summary of resource 24 2. RESULTS OF THE COUNTY STUDIES 14 2.4 Fermanagh 26 2.1 Antrim 14 2.4.1 Offshore wind 26 2.1.1 Offshore wind 14 2.4.2 Onshore wind 26 2.1.2 Onshore wind 15 2.4.3 Biomass 26 2.1.3 Biomass 15 2.4.4 Hydro-electricity 27 2.1.4 Hydro-electricity 16 2.4.5 Tidal power 27 2.1.5 Tidal power 16 2.4.6 Municipal and agricultural wastes 27 2.1.6 Municipal and agricultural wastes 16 2.4.7 Summary of resource 28 2.1.7 Summary of resource 17 2.5 Londonderry 29 2.2 Armagh 19 2.5.1 Offshore wind 29 2.2.1 Offshore wind 19 2.5.2 Onshore wind 29 2.2.2 Onshore wind 19 2.5.3 Biomass 30 2.2.3 Biomass 19 2.5.4 Hydro-electricity 30 2.2.4 Hydro-electricity 20 2.5.5 Tidal power 30 2.2.5 Tidal power 20 2.5.6 Municipal and agricultural wastes 30 2.2.6 Municipal and agricultural wastes 20 2.5.7 Summary of resource 31 2.2.7 Summary of resource 20

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2.6 Tyrone 33 A. CONVERSION TECHNOLOGIES AND RESOURCES 2.6.1 Offshore wind 33 AVAILABLE IN NORTHERN IRELAND Appendix A 2.6.2 Onshore wind 33 B. COSTS OF RENEWABLE SOURCED ELECTRICITY 2.6.3 Biomass 33 Appendix B 2.6.4 Hydro-electricity 34 2.6.5 Tidal power 34 C. HEAT SALES Appendix C 2.6.6 Municipal and agricultural wastes 34 D. PLANNING CONSENTS Appendix D 2.6.7 Summary of resource 34 E. CASE STUDIES Appendix E F. MAP SHOWING THE RURAL DISTRICTS OF NI Appendix F G. BIBLIOGRAPHY Appendix G H. LIST OF CONSULTEES Appendix H

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list of abbreviations

ac alternating current MWth megawatt (thermal) AGL above ground level NFFO Non-Fossil Fuel Obligation AMSL above mean seal level NI Northern Ireland AONB area of outstanding natural beauty NICERT Northern Ireland Centre for Research and Technology ASSI area of special scientific interest NOABL numerical objective analysis of boundary layer BWEA British Wind Energy Association NR nature reserve CHP combined heat and power OS Ordnance Survey dc direct current PBP PB Power DARD Department of Agriculture and Rural Development RoI Republic of Ireland DNC declared net capacity SAC special area of conservation DETI Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment SMC spent mushroom compost DTI Department of Trade and Industry SPA special protection area EC European Commission SRC short rotation coppice EfW energy from waste tpa tonnes per annum EHSNI Environment and Heritage Service Northern Ireland UK United Kingdom EIA environmental impact assessment ETSU An operating division of AEA Technology Environment GWh gigawatt-hour IENICA Interactive European Network for Industrial Crops and their Applications IPPC integrated pollution and prevention control kWe kilowatt (electric) kWh kilowatt-hour LFG landfill gas MDF medium density fibreboard MNR marine nature reserve MSW municipal solid waste MW megawatt MWe megawatt (electric)

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GENERIC RESOURCE OPPORTUNITIES March 2004 5 clean energy... ..you hold the power

executive summary

Action Renewables engaged PB Power to assess and quantify Issues relating to the stability of the NIE system from a the renewable energy (RE) resources available for electricity significant amount of wind power being connected to the generation and combined heat and power (CHP) schemes in network are not addressed in this report, but have been Northern Ireland (NI) on a County-by-County basis. This report addressed in the 2002 NIE/DETI1 report. gives the results of that assessment. The resources include: The purpose of the report is to enable potential developers, • Onshore and offshore wind; community groups, knowledgeable individuals and local • Biomass (straw, poultry litter, spent mushroom authorities to readily identify the opportunity for sustainable compost, short rotation coppice and miscanthus energy developments in their region. The study extends the grass, forest products and residues, sawmill residues); work carried out under the 2002 NIE/DETI1 renewables • Hydro-electricity; resource study which determined the extent and magnitude of • Tidal stream; renewable resources, the technical barriers to utilising those • Municipal and agricultural wastes; resources, the energy that could be made available from the • Landfill and sewage gas resources by 2010 and the additional costs involved in Solar power, in the form of photovoltaic (PV) and passive solar supplying electricity to consumers from the resources. heating, is a resource which can readily be exploited by NI. By This report identifies the feasible resource (that which is its nature, the resource covers the entire area of NI and so has potentially available, taking account of the technology used to not been addressed on a county-by-county level. convert the resource in a reliable and cost effective form, and The main body of the report determines the feasible renewable non-technical issues such as planning consent and other resource in each of the six counties of NI. There is no statutory requirements), and it is not intended to identify discussion of the methodology employed in reaching the specific project opportunities. figures – this can be found in Appendix A.

1 “Renewable Energy Resources in Northern Ireland,” PB Power 2002 for NIE and DETI.

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For each resource type, Appendix A discusses the In County Armagh, the total undeveloped RE resource unconstrained total resource, the feasible resource, and the identified by this study is 18 MW. Wind power represents the technology available for its exploitation. Appendix B contains greatest potential resource. Two wind farm sites were identified the economic evaluation of the cost of electricity from the with a total of 13 MW installed capacity, situated in the area different renewable sourced electricity technologies identified between Newtownhamilton and Whitecross. in Appendix A. It contains information extracted from Appendix In County Down, the total undeveloped RE resource identified D of the 2002 NIE/DETI1 renewables resource study. by this study is 301 MW. Wind power, both onshore (93 MW) County-by-county maps indicate the location and installed and offshore (200 MW), and MSW represent the three greatest capacity (MW) of the schemes identified. resources. The MSW resource is likely to be supplied to an EfW plant located in Greater Belfast. Onshore wind sites In total, the undeveloped feasible RE resource identified by identified are predominantly situated to the west of the Mourne this study is 1133 MW of installed electrical generation Mountains, to the west of Slieve Croob, and in the Downpatrick capacity. area. There is sufficient wind resource identified in a report The greatest resource identified is wind. Onshore wind carried out in 19992 to warrant a more detailed investigation resource is 565 MW in total, and the offshore wind resource into the opportunities for offshore wind generation situated off has nominally been put at 500 MW. The resource which is the coast of County Down. Transmission connections are best available for exploitation offshore however is heavily in the area closest to Donaghadee, and offshore areas of dependent on many factors which are beyond the scope of appropriate water depth at several locations down the coast, this report, including a more detailed analysis of available wind most notably in Dundrum Bay. For the purposes of this study, data and seabed geology. It would be subject also to a we have given indicative figures of 150 MW off the east coast detailed environmental impact assessment. and 50 MW off the SE coast of County Down.

In County Antrim, the total undeveloped RE resource In County Fermanagh, the total undeveloped RE resource identified by this study is 227 MW. Wind power, both onshore identified by this study is 95 MW. Wind power (89 MW) and (94 MW) and offshore (100 MW), and Municipal Solid Waste sawmill residue (3 MW) represent the two greatest resources. (MSW) represent the three greatest resources. An energy from The wind sites identified are predominantly situated east of waste (EfW) plant utilising the MSW resource is most likely be Lisnaskea and east of Enniskillen. There is a CHP project located in Greater Belfast. Onshore wind sites identified are proposed at Balcas sawmill in Enniskillen which has recently predominantly situated to the north and west of Ballyclare, to been awarded a £500,000 grant from the DTI's Bioenergy the east of Ballymena, and to the south east of Ballycastle. Capital Grants Scheme and which is due to start production in There is sufficient wind resource identified in a report carried 2004. It will use 166,000 tonnes of surplus sawdust and 2 out in 1999 to warrant a more detailed investigation into the woodchips from the sawmill to generate 2 MW of electricity opportunities for offshore wind generation situated off the NE and 10 MW of heat. coast of Antrim. Transmission connections are best in the area In County Londonderry, the total undeveloped RE resource closest to Ballylumford, and there are offshore areas of identified by this study is 279 MW. Wind power, both onshore appropriate water depth at Red Bay, Carnlough Bay and north (71 MW) and offshore (200 MW), represents the greatest of Islandmagee. For the purposes of this study, we have given resources. Wind sites identified are predominantly situated in an indicative figure of 100 MW (installed capacity). A centrally the Sperrin Mountains area and east of Limavady. A located thermal generation plant of around 3 MW, perhaps in development consortium is currently carrying out the Ballymena, could be supplemented by poultry litter resources environmental impact assessment and public consultation on a from other areas of NI. proposed offshore wind farm on the Tunes plateau for 150 to 250 MW installed capacity.

2 DETI and Department of Public Enterprise, “Assessment of Offshore Wind Energy Resources in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland”

GENERIC RESOURCE OPPORTUNITIES March 2004 7 executive summary

In County Tyrone, the total undeveloped RE resource identified by this study is 213 MW. Wind power (206 MW), poultry litter (2 MW) and SRC willow (1.7 MW) represent the three greatest resources. Wind sites identified are predominantly situated in the area between Omagh and Cookstown. Tyrone has the highest onshore wind resource of all the counties of NI. A biomass generation plant could be located in the Dungannon area, using the poultry litter resource from Tyrone and surrounding areas. This could have an installed capacity of between 3 and 6 MW, depending on the amount of feedstock which could be brought into the area from the rest of NI.

Table 1 – Summary of feasible renewable energy resource in each county

County Potential installed Energy production Potential savings in Estimated number capacity, MW per year, GWh CO2 emissions per of jobs created4 year, tonnes3

Antrim 227 894 544,000 48 Armagh 18 81 50,000 3 Down 301 1070 649,000 13 Fermanagh 95 340 207,000 10 Londonderry 279 993 603,000 9 Tyrone 213 735 446,000 26 Total 1133 4113 2,499,000 109

3 From DTI data stating an emission factor for electricity in NI of 0.608kg CO2 per kWh. 4 Number of people employed full-time in the operation and maintenance of the projects (i.e. not including jobs during the development and construction phases, or “jobs supported”).

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introduction

1

Action Renewables (Northern Ireland) engaged PB Power to Issues relating to the stability of the NIE system from a assess and quantify the renewable energy (RE) resources significant amount of wind power being connected to the available for electricity generation and combined heat and power network are not addressed in this report, but have been (CHP) schemes in Northern Ireland on a County-by-County basis. addressed in the 2002 NIE/DETI1 report.

The purpose of this report is to enable potential developers, The timescale required to develop a generation project has not community groups, knowledgeable individuals and local been addressed directly in the study, as the main driver for this authorities to readily identify the opportunity for sustainable is the technology maturity and the time required for planning energy developments in their region. The study extends the consent. work carried out under the 2002 NIE/DETI1 renewables The main body of the report presents the feasible renewable resource study which determined the extent and magnitude of resource in each of the six counties of NI, and a county map in renewable resources, the technical barriers to utilising those each section indicates the location and potential installed resources, the energy that could be made available from the capacity of the schemes identified. resources by 2010 and the additional costs involved in supplying electricity to consumers from the resources. There is no discussion of the methodology employed in reaching the figures – this can be found in Appendix A. For This report identifies the feasible resource (that which is each resource type, Appendix A discusses the unconstrained potentially available, taking account of the technology used to total resource, the feasible resource, and the technology convert the resource in a reliable and cost effective form, and available for its exploitation. non-technical issues such as planning consent and other statutory requirements), and it is not intended to identify The cost of the generation plant will vary according to the specific project opportunities. technology employed to convert the resource into useful electricity. Appendix B contains the economic evaluation of the

1 “Renewable Energy Resources in Northern Ireland”, PB Power 2002 for NIE and DETI

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www.actionrenewables.org cost of electricity from the different renewable sourced 1.2 Methodology electricity technologies identified in Appendix A. It contains Resource availability will depend upon a number of factors. In information extracted from Appendix D of the 2002 NIE/DETI1 this report, three stages of resource identification have been renewables resource study. used: Appendix C discusses the use of RE sourced energy in district i Identify the technical resource: that which is heating and combined heat and power schemes. potentially available, unconstrained by any Appendix D highlights the key issues relating to planning and economic, technical or environmental factor; environmental legislation, and case studies of typical RE ii Identify the feasible resource: the technical schemes for each of the resources are given in Appendix E. resource constrained by technology available The purpose of these is to illustrate further the way that the for its exploitation, and non technical issues resource can successfully be exploited, and contact details such as planning consent, environmental are given of the project developers involved to enable readers legislation and other statutory requirements; to obtain further information. iii Identify the likely location of the generation Note that sections of the report which directly reproduce parts plant. of the 2002 NIE/DETI report are printed in italics. A detailed discussion of the methodology employed in reaching the figures for the unconstrained total resource, the 1.1 Resources considered feasible resource, and the technology available for its exploitation is in Appendix A. The resources considered in this report include: The study was prepared taking account of relevant reports and • Onshore and offshore wind; consultation documents published by OFREG and other • Biomass (straw, poultry litter, spent mushroom energy-related organisations in NI. Consultees included: compost, short rotation coppice and miscanthus grass, forest products and residues, • NIE; sawmill residues); • Department of Enterprise, Trade Investment; • Hydro-electricity; • Department of the Environment; • Tidal stream; • Department of Agriculture and Rural • Municipal and agricultural wastes; Development (DARD); • Landfill gas and sewage gas; • The Forest Service (an Executive Agency within DARD); Solar power, in the form of photovoltaic (PV) and passive solar • The Water Service; heating, is a resource which can readily be exploited by NI. • The Planning Service; By its nature, the resource covers the entire area of NI and so • RE industry developers; has not been addressed on a county-by-county level. • Academia; • Sawmills in NI.

GENERIC RESOURCE OPPORTUNITIES March 2004 11 1 introduction

1.3 Existing renewable energy schemes The second Order was made in 1996, and 16 MW DNC of in Northern Ireland generation was secured at an average bid price of 4 p/kWh. Most of these NI-NFFO2 projects are, however, yet to be The exploitation of renewable energy resources in NI has been commissioned. The second order included six technology actively encouraged for a number of years in NI. The Non- bands namely: wind, hydro, biomass, energy from waste, Fossil Fuel Obligation (NFFO) originally intended that a landfill gas and farm-based biogas. Table 1.1 presents a prescribed amount (45 MW declared net capacity) of summary of the NI-NFFO1 and 2 contracts. Subsequent to the renewable generation would be secured by 2005. award of the NI-NFFO1 contracts the 5 sewage gas projects The first NI Order under the Obligation was made in 1994 (NI- (totalling 560 kW) were withdrawn. Table 1.1 reflects this NFFO1), and 15 MW of declared net capacity of generation amendment. was secured. Under NI-NFFO1 there were three technology bands (wind, hydro and sewage gas) and the average bid price was 6 p/kWh.

Table 1.1 – Summary of the Northern Ireland NFFO Projects

NI-NFFO1 Scheme Technology Declared net Commissioning capacity kW date Corkey Wind 2142 1994 Rigged Hill Wind 2142 1994 Elliotts Hill Wind 2142 1995 Bessy Bell Wind 2098 1995 Slieve Rushen Wind 2086 1995 Owenreagh Wind 2054 1997 Harperstown Hydro 250 1995 Carrickaness Hydro 155 1996 Randalstown Hydro 500 1997 Benburb Hydro 75 1996 Park Mills Hydro 30 1996 Sion Mills Hydro 780 1997 Blackwater Hydro 100 1997 Silent Valley Hydro 435 2001 Total 14 989 NI-NFFO2 Belfast Energy from waste 6650 not progressed Cottonmount Landfill gas 1699 not progressed BCC Landfill gas 4550 not progressed Slievenahanaghan Wind 426 1999 Lendrums Bridge Wind 2141 1999 Gilford Mill Hydro 176 not yet commissioned Benburb Hydro 75 1998 Brook Hall Biomass 100 1997 Blackwater Museum Biomass 204 1998 McGuickian’s Biogas 250 withdrawn Total 16 271 TOTAL NI-NFFO1 AND NI-NFFO2 31.26 MW

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1.4 NIE transmission and distribution A detailed analysis of the ability of the transmission and system distribution system to accept small embedded generation capacity at specific locations is beyond the scope of this An overview of the NIE transmission and distribution system is report. As a rule of thumb, however, a “typical” distribution presented in Figure 1.1. The existing high voltage transmission system can accommodate the following amounts of system comprises an interconnected network of 275 kV and embedded generation: 110 kV circuits owned and operated by NIE, and the distribution system comprises networks operating at 33 kV and 11 kV. • An 11 kV system may be capable of accommodating around 2 MW in a rural area and 5 MW in an urban area • A 33 kV system may be capable of accommodating around 10 MW in a rural area and 20 MW in an urban area • A 110 kV system may be capable of accommodating around 50 MW in a rural area and 100 MW in an urban area

Figure 1.1: Northern Ireland Transmission System

BALLYNAHINCH

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results of the county studies 2

2.1 Antrim Figure 2.1: Map indicating the location of undeveloped renewable energy sourced electricity in County Antrim This section of the report identifies the resource available from RE sources in the county of Antrim.

2.1.1 Offshore wind

The 30 km long strip of coast running down north east Antrim, from Cushendun in the north running south towards the northern area of Larne, is in an area where the average wind speed at 50 m is approximately 8 m/s which is the highest in Northern Ireland. The area is shown on the map in Figure 2.1.

There are offshore areas at depths of less than 20 m up to 3 km from the coast, in Red Bay, Carnlough Bay and near the town of Larne (20 m is the generally accepted limit for offshore developments at present). The shoreline in the north of Antrim, and around Islandmagee shelves steeply and has few areas of less than 20 m water depth.

The area north of Larne does not contain major shipping lanes, however the Mountains of Antrim which cover the NE coast of Antrim are designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). County Antrim

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The most northerly point, at Cushendun, is approximately 40 2.1.3.2 Short-rotation willow coppice km from the nearest 110 kV substation on the transmission County Antrim has 21% of the total grassland in NI. Within the network, at Loguestown. The most southerly point, however, is county, the rural districts of Antrim, Ballymena and Ballymoney within a few km of the 275 kV substation at Ballylumford. have the highest areas of grassland (33,000 ha, 43,000 ha and The resource which is available for exploitation in this area is 30,000 ha respectively). dependent on many factors which are beyond the scope of Of the total figure of 5,000 ha of grassland estimated by DARD this report, including a more detailed analysis of available wind for the potential shift to short rotation willow coppice (SRC) data and seabed geology. It would be subject also to a production in NI, this study has used a figure of 1,000 ha for detailed environmental impact assessment (EIA). Antrim (ie 21% of NI grassland total X 5,000 ha). 1,000 ha of However, for the purposes of this report we have assumed that land would produce around 12,000 dry tonnes of SRC willow a 100 MW wind farm could be sited in this area (occupying an per year, sufficient to supply a total of 1.5 MW installed area of 6 square km). The wind farm would generate around capacity. 350 GWh/year and would be sited up to 3 km offshore. This would be the equivalent of between 7 to 14 CHP plants, 100 to 200 kWe in size, scattered throughout the areas where 2.1.2 Onshore wind SRC crops could be farmed. These would enable farmers to The 20021 study identified 20 possible wind farm sites with a add value to their crops from the sale of electricity, would total installed capacity of 94 MW in the county. This generate around 11 GWh/year of electricity and the heat could represents about 17% of the potential resource identified in NI be used, for example, for space heating of buildings or drying and would generate around 313 GWh/year. of crops.

The sites are predominantly situated to the north and west of 2.1.3.3 Forest products and forest residues Ballyclare, to the east of Ballymena and to the south east of The REA Sawmill in Crumlin processes around 5,000 tpa of Ballycastle, as shown on the map in Figure 2.1. timber, around 1% of the NI total. The sawmill produces around 2,700 tpa of sawmill residue, which is currently sold to 2.1.3 Biomass Spanboard in Coleraine.

2.1.3.1 Poultry litter Using 40% of the residue total (as discussed in Appendix A.3.3) as a fuel, this residue could support around 0.1 MW of County Antrim has 39% of the total number of poultry in NI. installed capacity and produce about 1 GWh/year. These are mainly concentrated in the rural district of Ballymena. 2.1.3.4 Straw

Using 45% of the estimated poultry litter resource2 in the County Antrim has about 17% of the total straw production in county in a thermal treatment plant to produce electricity, NI, concentrated in the rural districts of Ballymena and would provide a feasible resource of 2.2 MW installed capacity Ballymoney. and about 16 GWh/year of electricity. If 5% of the straw were used in boiler units for heating A centrally located thermal generation plant of around 3 MW, purposes, the resource in Antrim would produce around 300 possibly in Ballymena, would need to be supported by poultry kWh of heat (net of boiler efficiency). As a typical size of litter resources from other areas of NI. boiler for such an application would be around 50 kWth, this would suggest around 6 installations.

2 Established from the DARD-NI figures for poultry

GENERIC RESOURCE OPPORTUNITIES March 2004 15 results of the 2 county studies

2.1.4 Hydro-electricity 2.1.6 Municipal and agricultural wastes

There are two existing NI-NFFO hydro-electric generation 2.1.6.1 Municipal solid waste schemes in Antrim, at Randalstown and Harperstown, of 500 County Antrim includes part of the North West and the Eastern kW and 250 kW respectively. Waste Management Partnerships. There are a further eight sites which were submitted under the County Antrim has municipal waste arisings of around 370,000 NI-NFFO applications, for a total of 4.64 MW, but were not tonnes per annum (tpa)4, which is 37% of the NI total. County developed. These ranged in size from 30 kW to 2,400 kW Down has municipal waste arisings of around 260,000 tonnes installed capacity, and are scattered throughout the County. per annum (tpa), which is 27% of the NI total. The total undeveloped hydro-electric potential of 4.7 MW is Commercial and industrial (C & I) waste is produced by 57% of the potential resource of Northern Ireland, and would governmental, public, industry and commerce. Waste arisings generate around 23 GWh/year of electricity. in the Belfast Council administrative area contributes 30% to the NI total for Commercial and Industrial Waste. 2.1.5 Tidal power As explained in Appendix A, an MSW energy from waste (EfW) Whilst the discussion in Appendix A.4 concludes that the plant is considered potentially feasible if there is in excess of technology for exploiting the tidal stream resource off the coast of 80,000 tpa of waste within a 30 km radius catchment area of NI is not yet sufficiently developed to be cost effective, it is worth the plant. By considering the MSW in both Counties Antrim noting for the future that there is a tidal stream resource off the and Down, there are estimated to be over 400,000 tpa of MSW NE Antrim coast which could be developed beyond 2012 – 15. within 30 km of Belfast. 3 A report carried out for ETSU in 1993 identified Rathlin Island In the 2002 PBP report1, a plant of 250,000 tpa was as having a high potential for harnessing tidal stream energy. considered, typically taking as a feedstock 90% MSW and The resource was given as 5,582 GWh/year, at a cost of 28 to 10% C&I waste. This would sustain an MSW EfW plant of 13 60 p/kWh. MW installed capacity, producing about 97 GWh of electricity A report carried out for the DTI/DETI/NIE in 20033 by Marine per year. Current Turbines (MCT) identified three locations off the coast The location of this plant is dependent upon many factors, of NI where the MCT turbine could potentially be sited to including ease of transport of the waste, electricity generate at costs of between 3 p/kWh and 6.4 p/kWh. This connections, availability of land and planning consent and included a site at Fair Head off the NE Antrim coast, of 67.5 possible use of the waste heat. The Eastern Region Waste MW installed capacity, estimated to produce around 303 Management Plan5 states that there are currently two planning GWh/year electricity for around 3.79 p/kWh. applications for EfW plants in the Belfast area; one at Belfast The site at Fair Head is approximately 40 km from the nearest West Power Station and one at Duncrue Road. Both sites 110 kV substation on the transmission network, at Loguestown, could accommodate a plant of 250,000 tpa capacity. and 50 km from the 275 kV substation at Ballylumford. 2.1.6.2 Sewage sludge

We do not consider that such schemes could be developed As discussed in Appendix A, it appears to be the intention of on a commercial basis before 2012 at the earliest. the Water Service that no new sewage gas projects are to be developed. This has been disputed by some of the consultees to this study. For the purpose of this study, however, a county by county resource has not been identified for exploitation.

3 “Tidal Stream Energy Review”, ETSU 1993, T/05/00155/REP 4 “Industrial, Commercial, Waste Industry and Municipal Waste Arisings Survey for Northern Ireland”, for the year 1999 to 2000 August 2001, DoE 5 ARC21 Waste Management Plan, Jan 2001

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2.1.6.3 Agricultural wastes 2.1.7 Summary of resource

County Antrim has 21% of the total number of cattle in NI, mainly Figure 2.1 shows the location, within County Antrim, of the RE in the rural districts of Ballymena, Ballymoney and Antrim. resource and Figure 2.2 shows in a pie chart the renewable

If 20% of the slurry produced by the cattle (a figure suggested resource identified for annual electricity generation. Table 2.1 in Appendix A.6.3) were used in an anaerobic digestion summarises the potential installed MW and the GWh/year process to produce methane gas for use in a CHP plant, which could be generated for each technology. The lifetime around 1 MW installed capacity could be supported. This cost in p/kWh for a typical project is given in Table B.4 in would generate around 7 GWh/year of electricity. Appendix B.

The economic transport distance for the slurry is around 10 Wind power, both onshore and offshore, MSW and landfill gas km. Food waste, such as out-of-date produce from represent the four greatest resources. An MSW generation supermarkets, which would be mixed with the slurry to plant is most likely to be located in Greater Belfast, as is the facilitate the digestion process, could be transported greater landfill gas generation. Onshore wind sites identified are distances, say up to 20 to 30 km. predominantly situated to the north and west of Ballyclare, to the east of Ballymena, and to the south east of Ballycastle. 2.1.6.4 Landfill gas There is sufficient wind resource identified in a report carried There are seven landfill sites in Antrim identified in the out in 19992 to warrant a more detailed investigation into the Regional Waste Management Plans. These are as follows: opportunities for offshore wind generation situated off the NE • Green Road, Ballyclare coast of Antrim. Transmission connections are best in the area • Dargan Road, Belfast closest to Ballylumford, and there are offshore areas of • Cottonmount 1 and 2, Newtownabbey appropriate water depth at Red Bay, Carnlough Bay and north • Crosstagherty, Ballymoney of Islandmagee. For the purposes of this study, we have given • Ballymacvea, Coleraine an indicative figure of 100 MW (installed capacity).

• Craighulliar, Coleraine A centrally located thermal generation plant of installed In total, these represent an installed capacity of around 10.2 capacity of around 3 MW, perhaps in Ballymena, could be MW, generating around 76 GWh/year of electricity. This is supported by poultry litter resources from other areas of NI.

35% of the NI total theoretical resource. We estimate that, were all of the projects identified brought to The figures for Green Road, Dargan Road, and Cottonmount 1 fruition, they would create around 48 new jobs. During the are based on the applications made by the site operators construction phase many more temporary jobs would be under NI-NFFO. Resource calculations for the remainder of created. the sites are made using assumptions as set out in Appendix A.6.4; note that these are theoretical assumptions as accurate data could not be obtained, and may lead to overestimation of the resource.

GENERIC RESOURCE OPPORTUNITIES March 2004 17 results of the 2 county studies

Figure 2.2: Renewable resource potential identified in County Antrim, by resource type

<1%

Table 2.1: Summary of the feasible renewable electricity resource in County Antrim

Antrim MW GWh/y % of total Potential savings on

(GWh/year) CO2 emissions per year, tonnes6

onshore wind 94.0 313 35% 190,000

offshore wind 100.0 350 39% 213,000

hydro-electric 4.7 23 3% 14,000

SRC willow 1.5 11 1% 7,000

poultry litter 2.2 16 2% 10,000

sawmill residue 0.1 1 <1% 1,000

MSW 13.0 97 11% 59,000

landfill gas 10.2 76 8% 46,000

agricultural wastes 1.0 7 1% 4,000

Total 226.7 894 100 544,000

6 From DTI data stating an emission factor for electricity in NI of 0.608kg CO2 per kWh 7 Number of people employed full-time in the operation and maintenance of the projects (i.e. not including jobs during the development and construction phases, or “jobs supported”)

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2.2 Armagh 2.2.3 Biomass

This section of the report identifies the resource available from 2.2.3.1 Poultry litter RE sources in the county of Armagh. County Armagh has 8% of the total numbers of poultry in NI. These are mainly concentrated in the rural district of Armagh. 2.2.1 Offshore wind Using 45% of the estimated poultry litter resource8 in the There is no offshore wind resource in Armagh as it is a county of Armagh in a thermal treatment plant the equivalent landlocked county. installed capacity is around 0.5 MW, generating about 3 GWh/year of electricity. This could contribute to a large scale, 2.2.2 Onshore wind centrally located plant, possible in County Tyrone.

The 20021 study identified 2 possible wind farm sites with a 2.2.3.2 Short-rotation willow coppice total installed capacity of 12.5 MW in the county. This County Armagh has 11% of the total grassland in NI. Within represents 2% of the potential resource identified in NI and the county, the rural districts of Armagh and Newry & would generate around 42 GWh/year. Mourne have the highest areas of grassland (44,000 ha and The two sites are situated in the area between Newtownhamilton 34,000 ha respectively). and Whitecross, shown on the map in Figure 2.3. Of the total figure of 5,000 ha suggested by DARD for the Figure 2.3: Map indicating the location of undeveloped potential shift to short rotation willow coppice (SRC) production renewable energy sourced electricity in County Armagh in NI, this study has used a figure of 550 ha for Armagh (ie 11% of NI grassland total x 5,000 ha). 550 ha of land would produce around 6700 dry tonnes of SRC willow per year, sufficient to supply a total of 0.8 MW installed capacity.

This would be the equivalent of between 4 to 8 CHP plants, 100 to 200 kWe in size, scattered throughout the areas where SRC crops could be farmed. These would enable farmers to add value to their crops from the sale of electricity. They would generate about 6 GWh/year of electricity, and the heat could be used, for example, for space heating of buildings or drying of crops. 2.2.3.3 Forest products and forest residues

The Forest Service were not aware of any sawmills in Armagh which might produce biomass waste and, thus, none were contacted. 2.2.3.4 Straw

Armagh has 10% of the total straw production in NI, concentrated in the rural district of Armagh.

If 5% of the straw were used in boiler units for heating purposes, the resource in Armagh would produce around 190 County Armagh kWth of heat (net of boiler efficiency). As a typical size of boiler would be around 50 kWth, this would suggest around 4 installations.

8 Estimated from the total NI figures

GENERIC RESOURCE OPPORTUNITIES March 2004 19 results of the 2 county studies

2.2.4 Hydro-electricity The economic transport distance for the slurry is around 10 km. Food waste, such as out-of-date produce from There are four existing hydro-electric generation schemes on supermarkets, which would be mixed with the slurry to the river Blackwater in the west of Armagh. facilitate the digestion process, could be transported greater distances, say up to 20 to 30 km. 2.2.5 Tidal power 2.2.6.4 Landfill gas There is no potential for tidal power in County Armagh as it is There are two landfill sites in Armagh identified in the Regional landlocked. Waste Management Plans. These are as follows: 2.2.6 Municipal and agricultural wastes • Lisbane Road • Ballyfodrin 2.2.6.1 Municipal solid waste In total, these represent an installed capacity of around 3 MW, County Armagh forms part of the Southern Waste Management generating around 22 GWh/year. This is 10% of the NI total Partnership. resource. County Armagh has MSW arisings of around 70,000 tpa, which The resource calculation for the sites are made using is 7% of the NI total. assumptions as set out in Appendix A.6.4. Note that these are The Southern Waste Management Partnership Waste theoretical assumptions as accurate data could not be Management Plan does not foresee that an EfW incineration obtained and may lead to the overestimation of the resource. plant is necessary in the region, and assumes that reduction/re-use/recycling is key to achieving waste to landfill 2.2.7 Summary of resource reduction targets. Nevertheless, this amount of waste could Figure 2.3 shows the location, within County Armagh, of the RE provide the equivalent of 1.3 MW installed capacity - about 10 resource and shows in a pie chart the renewable resource GWh/year of electricity. identified in County Armagh, for electricity generation. Table 2.2.6.2 Sewage sludge 2.2 summarises the potential installed MW and the GWh/year As discussed in Appendix A, it appears to be the intention of which could be generated for each technology. The lifetime the Water Service that no new sewage gas projects are to be cost in p/kWh for typical projects is given in Table B.4 in developed. This has been disputed by some of the Appendix B. consultees to this study. For the purpose of this study, Wind power represents the greatest potential resource. Two however, a county by county resource has not been identified wind farm sites were identified with a total of 12.5 MW installed for exploitation. capacity, situated in the area between Newtownhamilton and 2.2.6.3 Agricultural wastes Whitecross.

County Armagh has 12% of the total number of cattle in NI, Were all of the projects identified in this study brought to mainly in the rural districts of Armagh and Newry & Mourne. fruition, around 3 new jobs would be created in the county. During the construction phase many more temporary jobs If 20% of the slurry produced by the cattle (a figure suggested would be created. in Appendix A.6.3) were used in an anaerobic digestion process to produce methane gas for use in a CHP plant, around 0.6 MW installed capacity could be supported. This would generate around 5 GWh/year of electricity.

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Figure 2.4: Renewable resource potential identified in County Armagh, by resource type

Table 2.2: Summary of the feasible renewable electricity resource in County Armagh

Armagh MW GWh/y % of total Potential savings on

(GWh/year) CO2 emissions per year, tonnes9

onshore wind 12.5 42 52% 26,000

hydro-electric 0.7 3 4% 2,000

SRC willow 0.8 6 7% 4,000

poultry litter 0.5 3 4% 2, 000

landfill gas 3.0 22 27% 13,000

agricultural wastes 0.6 5 6% 3,000

Total 18.1 81.0 100 50,000

9 From DTI data stating an emission factor for electricity in NI of 0.608kg CO2 per kWh. 10 Number of people employed full-time in the operation and maintenance of the projects (i.e. not including jobs during the development and construction phases, or “jobs supported”)

GENERIC RESOURCE OPPORTUNITIES March 2004 21 results of the 2 county studies

2.3 Down average wind speed at 50m is approximately 6 to 7 m/s.

This section of the report identifies the resource available from The stretch of coast is around 50 km long, and includes RE sources in the county of Down. Dundrum Bay, off the coast of Newcastle. The region has a large area at depths of less than 20m, less than 5 km offshore 2.3.1 Offshore wind in places (Ardglass Bank and Dundrum Bay). There is also a huge area of seabed up to 30m in depth (les than 20 km There are two areas of the Co. Down coast which have been offshore in Dundrum Bay), which could allow a greater area for considered by this study for exploitation for offshore wind exploitation if these depths become economic in the future. farms. The closest 110 kV substation towards Killard Point is at The first is the region running from the Copeland Islands south Ballynahinch and is approximately 25 km away. At Cranfield to Ballyquintin Point, at the entrance of Strangford Lough. This Point, the nearest 110 kV substation is at Newry, and is stretch of coast is not a designated area, avoids the shipping approximately 25 km. routes towards Belfast and is in an area where the average As stated above, the resource available for exploitation in this wind speed at 50 m is approximately 8 m/s, which is the area is dependent on many factors which are beyond the highest in Northern Ireland. scope of this report. A 50 MW wind farm sited in this area The area covers a stretch of coast roughly 40 km long, and (occupying an area of 3 square km) would generate around has offshore areas at depths of less than 20m extending up to 175 GWh/year. 5 km offshore (in Ballyhalbert Bay and just north of Ballyquintin point). 2.3.2 Onshore wind The closest 110 kV substation towards the upper region is at The 20021 study identified 19 possible wind farm sites with a Rathgael (Bangor), which is approximately 8 km from total installed capacity of 92.5 MW in the county. This Donaghadee. For the southern region (south of Portavogie), represents 16% of the potential resource identified in NI and the nearest 110 kV substation is at Ballynahinch, which is would generate around 308 GWh/year. approximately 25 km away from the most southerly point of Ballyquintin Point. The nearest 275 kV substation is Greater The sites are predominantly situated to the west of the Mourne Belfast area, approximately 25 km from Donaghadee, and 40 Mountains, to the west of Slieve Croob, and in the Downpatrick km from Ballyquintin Point. area, as shown on the map in Figure 2.5.

The resource available for exploitation in this area is Figure 2.5: Map indicating the undeveloped renewable energy dependent on many factors which are beyond the scope of sourced electricity in County Down this report, including a more detailed analysis of available wind data, seabed geology. It would be subject also to a detailed 2.3.3 Biomass EIA. 2.3.3.1 Poultry litter A 150 MW wind farm sited in this area (occupying an area of 9 County Down has 12% of the total numbers of poultry in NI. square km) would generate around 526 GWh/year. These are mainly concentrated in the rural district of South Down. This second region considered stretches from the entrance of Using 45% of the estimated poultry litter resource11 in the Strangford Lough, south westerly to Cranfield Point (the county of Down in a thermal treatment plant to produce entrance to Carlingford Lough). This stretch of coast contains electricity the equivalent installed capacity is around 0.7 MW, designated areas - the Mourne Mountains and Dundrum Bay , generating 5 GWh/year of electricity. This could contribute to which are both Special Area of Conservation sites, Natural a large scale, centrally located plant, possibly in County Heritage Areas / Areas of Special Scientific Interest, and Areas Tyrone or County Antrim. of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It is in an area where the

11 Estimated from the total NI figures

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2.3.3.2 Short-rotation willow coppice This would be the equivalent of between 6 to 13 CHP plants, 100 to 200 kWe in size, scattered throughout the areas where County Down has 18% of the total grassland in NI. Within the SRC crops could be farmed. These would enable farmers to county, the rural districts of Banbridge, Down and East Down add value to their crops from the sale of electricity. They have the highest areas of grassland (32,000 ha, 32,000 ha and would generate about 9 GWh/year of electricity, and the heat 25,000 ha respectively). could be used, for example, for space heating of buildings or Of the total figure of 5,000 ha suggested by DARD for the drying of crops. potential shift to short rotation willow coppice (SRC) production 2.3.3.3 Forest products and forest residues in NI, this study has used a figure of 900 ha for Down (ie 18% of NI grassland total x 5,000 ha). 900 ha would produce The Cunningham Sawmill in Downpatrick and the Leitrim around 10,700 dry tonnes of SRC willow per year, equivalent to Sawmill in Newry operate in this area. It is possible that these 1.3 MW installed capacity. Mills may be a potential source of sawmill residue. 2.3.3.4 Straw

Figure 2.5: Map indicating the location of undeveloped Down has 41% of the total straw production in NI, renewable energy sourced electricity in County Down concentrated in the rural districts of North and East Down.

If 5% of the straw were used in boiler units for heating purposes, the resource in Down would produce around 750 kWth of heat (net of boiler efficiency). As a typical size of boiler would be around 50 kWth, this would suggest around 15 installations.

2.3.4 Hydro-electricity

There is one existing hydro-electric generation scheme of 435 kW in County Down.

There is one further site which was submitted under the NI- NFFO application for an installed capacity of 350 kW but this has not been developed.

The total undeveloped hydro-electric potential of 0.4 MW is 4% of the NI total and could generate 2GWh/yr electricity.

2.3.5 Tidal power

Whilst the discussion in Appendix A.4 concludes that the technology for exploiting the tidal stream resource off the coast of NI is not yet sufficiently developed, it is worth noting for the future that there is large tidal stream resource which could be developed beyond 2012 - 15. County Down

GENERIC RESOURCE OPPORTUNITIES March 2004 23 results of the 2 county studies

A report carried out for the DTI/DETI/NIE in 200312 by Marine 2.3.6.3 Agricultural wastes Current Turbines (MCT) identified three locations off the coast County Down has 19% of the total number of cattle in NI, of NI where the MCT turbine could potentially be sited to mainly in the rural districts of Banbridge, East Down and North generate at costs of between 3 p/kWh and 6.4 p/kWh. Down. Two locations identified were off the coast of County Down, at If 20% of the slurry produced by the cattle (a figure suggested Strangford Narrows (up to 31.5 MW) and the Copeland Islands in Appendix B.6.3) were used in an anaerobic digestion (up to 45.4 MW installed capacity). These two sites are process to produce methane gas for use in a CHP plant, estimated at producing 144 GWh/year at 3.46 p/kWh and 106 around 0.9 MW installed capacity could be supported. This GWh/year at 5.67 p/kWh respectively. would generate around 7 GWh/year of electricity. We understand13 that there are plans for installing a prototype The economic transport distance for the slurry is around 10 MCT turbine in Strangford Narrows for testing purposes. km. Food waste, such as out-of-date produce from Planning consent has not yet been granted for the scheme. supermarkets, which would be mixed with the slurry to We do not consider that such schemes could be developed facilitate the digestion process, could be transported greater on a commercial basis before 2012 at the earliest. distances, say up to 20 to 30 km. 2.3.6.4 Landfill gas 2.3.6 Municipal and agricultural wastes There are six landfill sites in County Down identified in the 2.3.6.1 Municipal solid waste Regional Waste Management Plans. These are as follows:

County Down forms part of the Eastern and part of the • Drumnakelly Southern Waste Management Partnerships. • Ballygowan County Down has municipal waste arisings of around 260,000 • Rockmount tpa, which is 27% of the NI total14. • Drumlough • Aughnagun Commercial and industrial (C & I) waste is produced by • Moor Quarry governmental, public, industry and commerce. In total, these represent a resource of around 5 MW installed As stated in Appendix A, an MSW energy from waste (EfW) capacity, generating around 38 GWh/year. plant is considered potentially feasible if there is in excess of 80,000 tpa of waste within a 30 km radius catchment area of The resource calculation for the sites are made using the plant. By aggregating the MSW in both Counties Antrim assumptions as set out in Appendix A.6.4; note that these are and Down, there is sufficient waste to support an EfW plant. theoretical assumptions as accurate data could not be The possibility of such a plant being located at Belfast is obtained and may overestimate the resource. discussed in Section 2.1.6.1 of this report. 2.3.6.2 Sewage sludge 2.3.7 Summary of resource Figure 2.5 shows the location within County Down of the RE As discussed in Appendix B, it appears to be the intention of resource and shows as a pie chart the renewable resource the Water Service that no new sewage gas projects are to be identified in County Down, for electricity generation. Table 2.3 developed. This has been disputed by some of the summarises the potential installed MW and the GWh/year consultees to this study. For the purpose of this study, which could be generated for each technology. however, a county-by-county resource has not been identified for exploitation.

12 “The Potential for the use of Marine Current Energy in Northern Ireland”, June 2003, for DTI/DETI/NIE, Whittaker, Fraenkel, Bell, Lugg 13 Telecon with David Stanley of DETI, Nov 2003 14 “Industrial, Commercial, Waste Industry and Municipal Waste Arising Survey for Northern Ireland”, for the year 1999 to 2000, August 2001, DoE

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Wind power, both onshore and offshore, MSW combustion and Figure 2.6: Renewable resource potential identified in landfill gas represent the four greatest resources. An MSW County Down, by resource type generation plant is most likely to be located in Greater Belfast, using the resources from both County Antrim and County Down, as are the landfill gas generation projects. Onshore wind sites identified are predominantly situated to the west of the Mourne Mountains, to the west of Slieve Croob, and in the Downpatrick area.

There is sufficient wind resource identified in a report carried out in 19992 to warrant a more detailed investigation into the opportunities for offshore wind generation situated off the coast of County Down. Transmission connections are best in the area closest to Donaghadee, and offshore areas of appropriate water depth at several locations down the coast, most notably in Dundrum Bay. For the purposes of this study, we have given an indicative figure of 150 MW off the east coast and 50 MW off the SE coast of Down.

Were all of the projects identified in this study come to fruition, around 13 new jobs would be created in the county. During the construction phase many more temporary jobs would be created.

Table 2.3: Summary of the feasible renewable electricity resource in County Down

Down MW GWh/y % of total Potential savings on (GWh/year) CO2 emissions per year, tonnes15

onshore wind 92.5 308 29% 187,000

offshore wind 200.0 701 65% 426,000

hydro-electric 0.4 2 <1% 1,000

SRC willow 1.3 9 1% 5,000

poultry litter 0.7 5 <1% 3,000

landfill gas 5.1 38 4% 23,000

agricultural wastes 0.9 7 1% 4,000

Total 300.9 1,070 100 649,000

15 From DTI data stating an emission factor for electricity in NI of 0.608kg CO2 per kWh. 16 Number of people employed full-time in the operation and maintenance of the projects (i.e. not including jobs during the development and construction phases, or “jobs supported”)

GENERIC RESOURCE OPPORTUNITIES March 2004 25 results of the 2 county studies

2.4 Fermanagh 2.4.3 Biomass

This section of the report identifies the resource available from 2.4.3.1 Poultry litter RE sources in the county of Fermanagh. County Fermanagh has a negligible broiler farming industry, and for the purposes of this report the resource available for 2.4.1 Offshore wind energy generation has been taken as zero. There is no offshore wind resource in Fermanagh as it is a 2.4.3.2 Short-rotation willow coppice landlocked county. County Fermanagh has 13% of the total grassland in NI. Within the county, the rural districts of Enniskillen and 2.4.2 Onshore wind Lisnaskea have the highest areas of grassland (41,000 ha and The 20021 study identified 12 possible wind farm sites with a 40,000 ha respectively). total capacity of 89.3 MW in the county. This represents about Of the total figure of 5,000 ha suggested by DARD for the 16% of the potential resource identified in NI and would potential shift to short rotation willow coppice (SRC) production generate around 297 GWh/year. in NI, this study has used a figure of 660 ha for County Fermanagh (ie 13% of NI grassland total x 5,000 ha). 660 ha of land would produce around 8,000 dry tonnes of SRC willow per year, equivalent to 0.9 MW installed capacity. Figure 2.7: Map indicating the location of undeveloped renewable energy sourced electricity in County Fermanagh This would be equivalent to between 4 to 8 CHP plants, 100 to 200 kWe in size, scattered throughout the areas where SRC crops could be farmed. These would enable farmers to add value to their crops from the sale of electricity. They would produce about 7 GWh/year of electricity, and the heat could be used for example for space heating of buildings or drying of crops. 2.4.3.3 Forest products and forest residues

The Balcas sawmill in Enniskillen processes around 230,000 m3 per annum of timber, which is 63% of the NI total.

The sawmill produces around 126,000 tpa of sawmill residue. Using 40% of the residue total, as discussed in Appendix A.3.3, as a fuel could support around 3.3 MW of installed capacity and produce about 24 GWh/year.

The CHP project proposed at Balcas sawmill in Enniskillen, which is due to start production in 2004, will use 166,000 tonnes of surplus sawdust and woodchips from the sawmill to fuel a 2 MW of electricity generation plant, producing 10 MWth County Fermanagh of heat. It will also produce 50,000 tpa of refined wood pellets. The wood waste not used in the CHP plant will be converted into wood pellets for use as a fuel elsewhere.

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2.4.3.4 Straw 2.4.6.2 Sewage sludge

Fermanagh has a small portion of the total straw production in As discussed in Appendix A, it appears to be the intention of NI, around 6% of the NI total. This resource has not been the Water Service that no new sewage gas projects are to be considered further in this study. developed. This has been disputed by some of the consultees to this study. For the purpose of this study, however, a county 2.4.4 Hydro-electricity by county resource has not been identified for exploitation.

There are two hydro-electric generation sites which were 2.4.6.3 Agricultural wastes submitted under the NI-NFFO applications, but were not County Fermanagh has 10% of the total number of cattle in NI, developed, for total of 0.2 MW (225 kW and 335 kW). These mainly in the rural districts of Enniskillen and Lisnaskea. are in the extreme west of Fermanagh. If 20% of the slurry produced by the cattle (a figure suggested The total undeveloped hydro-electric potential of 0.2 MW in Appendix A.6.3) were used in a CHP plant, around 0.5 MW installed capacity, is 2% of the Northern Ireland total and could installed capacity could be supported. This would generate generate about 1 GWh/year electricity. around 4 GWh/year of electricity.

The economic transport distance for the slurry is around 10km. 2.4.5 Tidal power Food waste, such as out-of-date produce from supermarkets, There is no potential for tidal power in County Fermanagh as it which would be mixed with the slurry, to facilitate the digestion is a landlocked county. process could be transported greater distances, say up to 20 to 30 km. 2.4.6 Municipal and agricultural wastes 2.4.6.4 Landfill gas

2.4.6.1 Municipal solid waste There are two landfill sites in Fermanagh identified in the County Fermanagh forms part of the Southern Waste Regional Waste Management Plans. These are as follows: Management Partnership. • Glassmullagh County Fermanagh has municipal waste arisings of around • Drumee 35,000 tpa, which is 4% of the NI total. In total, these represent an installed capacity of 0.9 MW, The Southern Waste Management Partnership Waste generating around 7 GWh/year. This is 5% of the NI total Management Plan does not foresee an energy from waste resource. incineration plant being necessary in the region, and assumes The figure for Glassmullagh is based on the applications made that reduction/re-use/recycling is key to achieving waste to under NI-NFFO by the site operators. landfill reduction targets. Nevertheless, this amount of waste could support an equivalent installed capacity of about 2 MW generating 14 GWh/year.

GENERIC RESOURCE OPPORTUNITIES March 2004 27 results of the 2 county studies

2.4.7 Summary of resource Figure 2.8 Renewable resource potential identified in County Fermanagh, by resource type Figure 2.7 shows the location within County Fermanagh of the RE resource and Figure 2.8 shown in a pie chart the renewable resource identified in County Fermanagh, for electricity generation. Table 2.4 summarises the potential installed MW and the GWh/year which could be generated for each technology.

Wind power and sawmill residue represent the two greatest resources. Wind sites are scattered through the county. There is a CHP project proposed at Balcas sawmill in Enniskillen which has recently been awarded a £500,000 grant from the DTI's Bioenergy Capital Grants Scheme, and which is due to start production in 2004. It will use 166,000 tonnes of surplus sawdust and woodchips from the sawmill to generate 2 MW of electricity and 10 MWth of heat and to produce 50,000 tpa of refined wood pellets.

Were all of the projects identified by this study to come to fruition, around 10 new jobs would be created in the county. During the construction phase many more temporary jobs would be created.

Table 2.4: Summary of the feasible renewable electricity resource in County Fermanagh

Fermanagh MW GWh/y % of total Potential savings on (GWh/year) CO2 emissions per year, tonnes17

onshore wind 89.3 297 87% 181,000

hydro-electric 0.2 1 <1% 1,000

SRC willow 0.9 7 2% 4,000

sawmill residue 3.3 24 7% 15,000

landfill gas 0.9 7 2% 4,000

agricultural wastes 0.5 4 1% 2,000

Total 95.1 340 100 207,000

17 From DTI data stating an emission factor for electricity in NI of 0.608kg CO2 per kWh. 18 Number of people employed full-time in the operation and maintenance of the projects (i.e. not including jobs during the development and construction phases, or “jobs supported”)

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2.5 Londonderry Figure 2.9: Map indicating the location of undeveloped renewable energy sourced electricity in County Londonderry This section of the report identifies the resource available from RE sources in the county of Londonderry.

2.5.1 Offshore wind

In February 2002, The Crown Estate announced that it was to make available a seabed site for the development of an offshore wind farm off the North coast of NI. Following discussions with DETI the area known as Tunes Plateau was confirmed as the available site as shown on the map in Appendix E. It is expected to have an installed capacity between 150 MW and 250 MW19 , and would generate 70 GWh/year (for 200 MW installed capacity). The site will be at least 5 km offshore.

The Crown Estate has now offered the lease of the site to a development consortium which is currently carrying out the environmental impact assessment and public consultation on the project. They anticipate being in the position to deliver power from this project, should it proceed, in or around 2005.

We consider that there is little further potential for offshore wind on the Londonderry coast, as the seabed slopes away steeply from the shore. County Londonderry 2.5.2 Onshore wind

The 20021 study identified 10 possible wind farm sites with a total installed capacity of 70.5 MW in the county. This represents 12% of the potential resource identified in NI and would generate around 235 GWh/year.

The sites are predominantly in the Sperrin Mountains area and east of Limavady, as shown on the map in Figure 2.9.

19 i.e. a minimum installed capacity of 150 MW

GENERIC RESOURCE OPPORTUNITIES March 2004 29 results of the 2 county studies

2.5.3 Biomass Appendix A.3.3, as a fuel could support an installed capacity of around 1.8 MW and produce about 13 GWh/year. 2.5.3.1 Poultry litter and spent mushroom compost 2.5.3.4 Straw County Londonderry has 5% of the total number of poultry in NI. These are mainly concentrated in the rural districts of County Londonderry has 23% of the total straw production in Magherafelt and Coleraine. NI. If 5% of the straw were used in boiler units for heating purposes, the resources in County Londonderry would Using 45% of the estimated poultry litter arisings20 in County produce about 400 kWh of heat (net of boiler efficiency). As a Londonderry in a thermal treatment plant, the equivalent typical size of boiler would be around 50 kWth, this would installed capacity is around 0.3 MW, generating around 2 suggest around 8 installations. GWh/year of electricity. This could contribute to a large scale, centrally located plant, possibly in County Tyrone or County Antrim. 2.5.4 Hydro-electricity 2.5.3.2 Short-rotation willow coppice Six sites were submitted under the NI-NFFO applications (but were not developed), for a total of 1.7 MW installed capacity, County Londonderry has 14% of the total grassland in NI. which is around 21% of the NI potential for hydro electric Within the county, the rural districts of Magherafelt and power. These schemes would generate around 8 GWh/year of Coleraine have the highest areas of grassland (40,000 ha and electricity. 30,000 ha respectively).

Of the total figure of 5,000 ha suggested by DARD for the 2.5.5 Tidal power potential shift to short rotation willow coppice (SRC) production Whilst the discussion in Appendix A.4 concludes that the in NI, this study has used a figure of 715 ha for Londonderry technology for exploiting the tidal stream resource off the coast (ie 14% of NI grassland x 5,000 ha). 715 ha would produce of NI is not yet sufficiently developed to be cost effective, it is around 8500 dry tonnes of SRC willow per year, equivalent to worth noting that there is large tidal stream resource off the NI 1.0 MW installed capacity. coast. This would be the equivalent of between 5 to 10 CHP plants, There was, however, no tidal stream potential identified off the 100 to 200 kWe in size, scattered throughout the areas where County Londonderry coast either in a report published by SRC crops could be farmed. These would enable farmers to ETSU21 in 1993 or in a study carried out for the DTI/DETI/NIE add value to their crops from the sale of electricity. They in 200322. would generate about 7 GWh/year of electricity, and the heat could be used, for example, for space heating of buildings or drying of crops. 2.5.6 Municipal and agricultural wastes 2.5.3.3 Forest products and forest residues 2.5.6.1 Municipal solid waste

The Balcas sawmill in Magherafelt processes around 42,000 County Londonderry forms part of the North West Region tonnes per annum of timber, Diamond sawmill in Coleraine Waste Management Partnership. processes 30,000 tpa, and Drenagh sawmill in Limavady processes 55,000 tpa. This gives a total in Londonderry of 35% of the NI total.

The three sawmills produce around 70,000 tpa of sawmill residue. Using 40% of the total residue, as discussed in

20 Estimated from the DARD-NI figures for poultry 21 “Tidal Stream Energy Review”, ETSU 1993, T/05/00155/REP 22 “The Potential for the use of Marine Current Energy in Northern Ireland”, June 2003, for DTI/DETI/NIE, Whittaker, Fraenkel, Bell, Lugg

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County Londonderry has MSW arisings of around 150,000 • Culmore tonnes per annum (tpa), which is 15% of the NI total. • Drumaduff • Ballymacombs Within the District Councils of Limavady, Derry and Strabane (all within a radius of around 40 km of the town of In total, these represent a resource of 2.9 MW installed Londonderry), the total MSW arisings are around 116,000 tpa. capacity, generating around 22 GWh/year.

The North West Region Waste Management Group Waste The resource calculation for these sites was made using Management Plan does not foresee an energy from waste assumptions as set out in Appendix A.6.4. These are incineration plant being necessary in the region and we have theoretical assumptions as accurate data would not be not included the resource in our county summary. It assumes obtained and may lead to an overestimation of the resource. that reduction/re-use/recycling is key to achieving waste to landfill reduction targets. Nevertheless, this amount of waste 2.5.7 Summary of resource could support about an equivalent installed capacity of 6 MW, Figure 2.9 shows the location within the County Londonderry of generating 62 GWh/year. the RE resources and Figure 2.10 shows as a pie chart the 2.5.6.2 Sewage sludge renewable resource identified in County Londonderry, for As discussed in AppendixA, it appears to be the intention of electricity generation. Table 2.5 summarises the potential the Water Service that no new sewage gas projects are to be installed MW and the GWh/year which could be generated for developed. This has been disputed by some of the each technology. consultees to this study. For the purpose of this study, Wind power, both onshore and offshore, and landfill gas however, a county by county resource has not been identified represent the three greatest resources. Wind sites identified for exploitation. are predominantly situated in the Sperrin Mountains area, and 2.5.6.3 Agricultural wastes east of Limavady. A development consortium is currently carrying out the environmental impact assessment and public Londonderry has 14% of the total number of cattle in NI, consultation on a proposed offshore wind farm on the Tunes mainly in the rural districts of Coleraine and Magherafelt. plateau for 150 to 250 MW installed capacity. If 20% of the slurry produced by the cattle (a figure suggested Within the District Councils of Limavady, Derry and Strabane in Appendix A.6.3) were used in a CHP plant, around 0.7 MW (all within a radius of around 40 km of the city of Londonderry), installed capacity could be supplied. This would generate there are sufficient MSW arisings to supply a plant of 6 MW. around 5 GWh/year of electricity. The North West Region Waste Management Group Waste The economic transport distance for the slurry is around 10 Management Plan however does not foresee an EfW plant is km. Food waste, such as out-of-date produce from necessary in the region and assumes that reduction/re- supermarkets, which would be mixed with the slurry to use/recycling is key to achieving waste to landfill reduction facilitate the digestion process, could be transported greater targets. distances, say up to 20 to 30 km. The largest landfill gas potential resource is located at 2.5.6.4 Landfill gas Culmore landfill site, operated by Derry City Council.

There are three landfill sites in Londonderry identified in the Were all of the projects identified by this study to come to Regional Waste Management Plans. These are as follows: fruition, around 9 new jobs would be created in the county. During construction phase many more temporary lobs would be created.

GENERIC RESOURCE OPPORTUNITIES March 2004 31 results of the 2 county studies

Figure 2.10: Renewable resource potential identified in County Londonderry, by resource type

Table 2.5: Summary of the feasible renewable electricity resource in County Londonderry

Londonderry MW GWh/y % of total Potential savings on (GWh/year) CO2 emissions per year, tonnes23

onshore wind 70.5 235 24% 143,000

offshore wind 200.0 701 70% 426,000

hydro-electric 1.7 8 1% 5,000

SRC willow 1.0 7 1% 4,000

poultry litter 0.3 2 <1% 1,000

sawmill residue 1.8 13 1% 8,000

landfill gas 2.9 22 2% 13,000

agricultural wastes 0.7 5 <1% 3,000

Total 278.9 993 100 603,000

23 From DTI data stating an emission factor for electricity in NI of 0.608kg CO2 per kWh. 24 Number of people employed full-time in the operation and maintenance of the projects (i.e. not including jobs during the development and construction phases, or “jobs supported”)

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2.6 Tyrone Using 45% of the estimated poultry litter arisings26 in County Tyrone in a thermal treatment plant would support 1.9 MW This section of the report identifies the resource available from installed capacity, generating 13 GWh/year of electricity. RE sources in the county of Tyrone. A centralised generation plant could be located in the 2.6.1 Offshore wind Dungannon area, using the poultry litter resource from Tyrone and surrounding areas. The installed capacity would depend There is no offshore wind potential in Tyrone as it is a on the level of resource which could be brought into the area landlocked county. from the rest of NI but could be up to around 5MW27.

2.6.2 Onshore wind 2.6.3.2 Short-rotation willow coppice

The 200225 study identified 36 possible wind farm sites with a Tyrone has 23% of the total grassland in NI. Within the county, total installed capacity of 205.8 MW in the county. This the rural districts of Omagh and Dungannon have the highest represents about 36% of the potential resource identified in NI areas of grassland (67,000 ha and 33,000 ha respectively). and would generate around 685 GWh/year. Of the total figure of 5,000 ha suggested by DARD for the The sites are predominantly situated in the area between Omagh potential shift to short rotation willow coppice (SRC) production and Cookstown, but there is also significant potential in the rest of in NI, this study has used a figure of 1190 ha for Tyrone (ie the county and are shown on the map in Figure 2.11. 32% of NI grassland x 5,000 ha). 1190 ha of land would produce 12,000 dry tonnes of SRC willow per year, equivalent to 1.7 MW installed capacity. 2.6.3 Biomass This would be the equivalent of between 8 to 17 CHP plants, 2.6.3.1 Poultry litter 100 to 200 kWe in size, scattered throughout the areas where Tyrone has 33% of the total number of poultry in NI. These are SRC crops could be farmed. These would enable farmers to mainly concentrated in the rural district of Dungannon. add value to their crops from the sale of electricity. These would generate around 12 GWh/year of electricity, and the Figure 2.11: Map indicating the location of undeveloped heat could be used, for example, for space heating of renewable energy sourced electricity in County Tyrone buildings or drying of crops. 2.6.3.3 Forest products and forest residues

The Irvine sawmill in Omagh processes around 6,000 tonnes per annum of timber, which is 2% of the NI total. The Farrell sawmill in Fivemiletown was contacted for details on the annual throughput of the mill, but we have been unable to obtain the information.

The Irvine sawmill produces around 3,000 tpa of sawmill residue which is currently sent to Spanboard in Coleraine or to local farmers. Using 40% of the total residue, as discussed in Appendix A.3.3, as a fuel could support around 0.1 MW installed capacity, generating around 3 GWh/year. 2.6.3.4 Straw County Tyrone Tyrone has 9% of the total straw production in NI, concentrated in the rural district of Strabane.

25 “Renewable Energy Resources in Northern Ireland”, PB Power, 2002 for NIE and DETI 26 Estimated from the DARD-NI figures for NI poultry number 27 Ref: Discussion with David Graham and Tom McKeown, Moy Park Foods, December 2003

GENERIC RESOURCE OPPORTUNITIES March 2004 33 results of the 2 county studies

If 5% of the straw were used in boiler units for heating 2.6.6.3 Agricultural wastes purposes, the resource in Tyrone would produce around 160 County Tyrone has 24% of the total number of cattle in NI, kWth of heat (net of boiler efficiency). As a typical size of mainly in the rural district of Omagh. boiler would be around 50 kWth, this would suggest around 3 installations. If 20% of the slurry produced by the cattle (a figure suggested in Appendix A.6.3) were used in an anaerobic digestion 2.6.4 Hydro-electricity process to produce methane gas were used in a CHP plant, the plant could support around 1.2 MW installed capacity. This There are two sites which were submitted under the NI-NFFO would generate around 9 GWh/year of electricity. applications, but were not developed, for total of 0.6 MW The economic transport distance for the slurry is around 10 installed capacity. These are in the west of the county and km. Food waste, such as out-of-date produce from would generate around 3 GWh/year. supermarkets, which would be mixed with the slurry to facilitate the digestion process, could be transported greater 2.6.5 Tidal power distances, say up to 20 to 30 km. There is no potential for tidal power in County Tyrone as it is a 2.6.6.4 Landfill gas landlocked county. There are three landfill sites in Tyrone identified in the Regional 2.6.6 Municipal and agricultural wastes Waste Management Plans. These are as follows: • Tullyvar 2.6.6.1 Municipal solid waste • Magheraglass County Tyrone forms part of the Southern and part of the North • Killygarvin West Waste Management Partnership. In total, these represent a total installed capacity of 1.6 MW, County Tyrone has municipal waste arisings of around 95,000 generating 12 GWh/year. This is 6% of the NI total resource. tpa, which is 10% of the NI total. The resource calculation was made using assumptions as set The Southern and North West Waste Management Partnership out in Appendix A.6.4. Note that these are theoretical Waste Management Plans do not foresee an energy from assumptions as accurate data could not be obtained, and this waste incineration plant being necessary in the region. The may lead to an overestimation of the resource. Plans assume that reduction/re-use/recycling is key to achieving waste to landfill reduction targets. Nevertheless, 2.6.7 Summary of resource this amount of waste could support an equivalent installed capacity of 5.3 MW of installed capacity, generating 40 Figure 2.11 shows the location within County Tyrone of the RE GWh/year. resource and Figure 2.12 shows in a pie chart the renewable resource identified in County Tyrone, for electricity generation. 2.6.6.2 Sewage sludge Table 2.6 summarises the potential installed MW and the As discussed in Appendix A, it appears to be the intention of GWh/year which could be generated for each technology. the Water Service that no new sewage gas projects are to be Wind power represents the greatest resource. Poultry litter, developed. This has been disputed by some of the SRC willow and landfill gas could also make a contribution. consultees to this study. For the purpose of this study, Wind sites identified are predominantly situated in the area however, a county by county resource has not been identified between Omagh and Cookstown although there is also for exploitation. significant potential in the rest of the county. Tyrone has the highest wind resource of all the counties of NI.

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An anaerobic digestion plant, in Fivemiletown, producing Figure 2.12: Renewable resource potential identified in biogas for electricity and heat generation is in the preliminary County Tyrone, by resource type stages of project development and, we understand that the project has received government funding to proceed.

A centralised generation plant could be located in the Dungannon area, using the poultry litter resource from Tyrone and surrounding areas. The installed capacity would depend on the level of resource which could be brought into the area from the rest of NI, but could be up to around 5 MW28.

The SRC willow could be grown on grassland and used locally for either electricity or heat generation.

Were all of the projects identified by this study to come to fruition, around 26 new jobs would be created in the county. During the construction phase many more temporary jobs would be created.

Table 2.6: Summary of the feasible renewable electricity resource in County Tyrone

Tyrone MW GWh/y % of total Potential savings on (GWh/year) CO2 emissions per year, tonnes29

onshore wind 205.8 685 93% 416,000

hydro-electric 0.6 3 <1% 2,000

SRC willow 1.7 12 2% 7,000

poultry litter 1.9 13 2% 8,000

sawmill residue 0.1 1 <1% 1,000

landfill gas 1.6 12 2% 7,000

agricultural wastes 1.2 9 1% 5,000

Total 212.9 735 100 446,000

28 Ref: Discussion with David Graham and Tom McKeown, Moy Park Foods, December 2003 29 From DTI data stating an emission factor for electricity in NI of 0.608kg CO2 per kWh. 30 Number of people employed full-time in the operation and maintenance of the projects (i.e. not including jobs during the development and construction phases, or “jobs supported”)

GENERIC RESOURCE OPPORTUNITIES March 2004 35 clean energy... ..you hold the power

appendix A

Conversion Technologies and Resources available in Northern Ireland A

This section discusses the methodology employed in A.1 Offshore Wind identifying the renewable energy resource available in each Sources of data used for this report county, and the technologies associated with the exploitation of the renewable resources in NI. The results of the exercise, The 1999 report for DETI1 which assessed the offshore wind giving MW capacity, and GWh generation per year are power resource in NI was reviewed, and the water depths off presented in Section 2 of the report. A summary of the results the coast were obtained from Admiralty Charts. is given in each section of this Appendix. The 1999 report for the DETI identified the mean wind speeds Note that any text in italics is reproduced directly from the in offshore areas and the realistic potential for offshore wind 2002 NIE/DETI report. exploitation. It predicted the mean annual wind speed around the NI coast at 50 m AMSL (the hub height of the turbine). The As stated in the introduction, three stages of resource predicted wind speed is highest off the east coast of County identification were used, as follows: Down (8 m/s), and lowest off the south east coast of County i Identify technical resource: that which is Down (6 m/s). The rest of the NI coast was given as 7 m/s. potentially available, unconstrained by any The report predicted the feasible resource based on an economic, technical or environmental factor; installation of 3 MW wind turbines at 500 m spacing (4 turbines ii Identify the feasible resource: the technical per square km), and 50 m hub height. This gives an energy resource constrained by technology available production of 15,000 MWh/ km2 and 20,000 MWh/ km2 for for its exploitation, and non technical issues mean annual wind speeds of 7 m/s and 8 m/s respectively, such as planning consent, environmental based on typical machine performance curves, ignoring any legislation and other statutory requirements; losses and availability considerations. iii Identify the likely location of the generation plant.

1 DETI and Department of Public Enterprise, “Assessment of Offshore Wind Energy Resources in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland”, 1999

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Methodology and Results Table A1: Feasible resource identified for offshore wind, by county The offshore wind resource which is available for exploitation around the coast of NI is dependent on many factors which County Offshore wind, MWe are beyond the scope of this report, including a more detailed analysis of available wind data and seabed geology. It would MWe GWh/year % total NI be subject also to a detailed environmental impact assessment Total Co. Antrim 100 350 20% (EIA). Total Co. Down 200 701 40% Physical factors which affect the siting of the windfarms include: Total Co. Londonderry 200 701 40%

• Proximity to 110 kV or 275 kV electricity NI Total 500 1752 100 substations • water depth • maximum wave heights and tidal currents • geotechnical suitability for sub-base structures A.2 Onshore Wind • shipping lanes Sources of data used for this report • military restrictions • petrochemical installations and pipelines The 2002 PB Power report2, identified the total potential • power and telecommunications cables installed capacity for onshore wind power in NI by identifying • marine reserves individual wind farm sites. In addition, the net capacity factor • national monuments (wrecks). was estimated for each site.

A key aspect of offshore wind farm feasibility is water depth. It This study has used the work carried out for the 2002 report, is considered that the depth at which wind turbines can and quotes the results on a county by county basis. economically be situated is less than 20 m, and current (2003) The 2002 report was conducted on a desktop basis and made UK offshore wind farms are being constructed in water depths use of information available either in the public domain or that not exceeding 20 m. Whilst it is feasible that wind farms which was obtainable from NIE. situated at greater depths could be economical in the future, this report has limited the potential resource assessment to The report used the Numerical Objective Analysis of Boundary water depths of up to 20m. Layer (NOABL) database (obtainable from the British Wind Energy Association (BWEA) website) in order to obtain site In assessing the potential for possible offshore wind farms we specific, long-term average wind speed data for each of the have assumed the following: sites. This database is the only source of site-specific data • less than 20 m water depth available in the public domain and provides long-term average • 3.6 MW turbines with a 104 m diameter rotor wind speeds for each square km of the UK. • spacing of 3 and 7 times rotor diameter for facing the prevailing wind direction and parallel to the prevailing wind direction respectively • a net capacity factor of 40%.

Analysis of the ability of the transmission system to accept a connection from a proposed offshore wind farm is beyond the scope of this report, we have, however, stated in the main body of the report (Section 2) the location and distance to the nearest HV substation.

2 “Renewable Energy Resources in Northern Ireland”, PB Power 2002 for NIE and DETI

GENERIC RESOURCE OPPORTUNITIES March 2004 37 A appendix A

Methodology and Results Stage v) Determination of practical potential by assessing the remaining sites in greater detail, and weighting The evaluation of the practical wind energy resource was those sites which could be considered to be more made by applying a series of increasingly stringent criteria to benign from a planning or environmental impact the wind farm locations identified. The criteria which were viewpoint by assigning a probability factor to each applied and the potential capacity identified at each stage of site. Between 30 to 40 sites were identified with the evaluation are as follows: 468 MW to 564 MW installed capacity. Stage i) Unconstrained identification of gross (i.e. For the purposes of this study, 99 sites presented in the 2002 “technical”) potential. This selection was not report (stage iv above) have been quoted. These sites, when constrained by planning, performance or other combined with the probability factor determined in stage v technical issues. It is to be noted that, in order to (above), have a total installed capacity of 564 MW and an avoid duplication, the existing wind farm locations average net capacity factor of 38%. were marked on the maps and excluded from further consideration. A total of 378 sites were Note that of the 254 sites identified by the 2002 study (at identified with 4,547 MW installed capacity; Stage ii above), 20 of the sites are close to forested land, and 19 are on forest land. It should be noted that the legislation Stage ii) Removal of clearly unsuitable sites by considering relating to forestry in NI (Forestry Act NI 1953) does not extend designated and protected sites, radar and aviation, to enabling Forest Service to allow third parties (eg Wind Farm visual impact, noise impact, topography, and developers) the use of Forestry land for development. A closest grid connection. A total of 254 sites were review of the legislative position will take place in 20043. identified with 3,201 MW installed capacity;

Stage iii) Consideration of interference constraints for adjacent wind farm sites, issues relating to wind flow, wind flow disruption and the impact upon down-wind turbines or wind farms. It was assumed that the prevailing wind direction is predominantly west to south-west. A total of 235 sites were identified with 2,955 MW installed capacity;

Stage iv) Evaluation of site clustering effects with regard to planning approval. As more sites are developed, each new development will impact upon the environment and upon people’s acceptance of that development to a greater extent. The development of sites will have a cumulative impact on the acceptability of further developments until a saturation level is reached. Between 81 and 103 sites were identified with a total of 1,209 MW and 1,546 MW respectively.

3 “Ref: Letter from Alistair Carson, DARD, 28/10/04

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Table A.2: Feasible resource identified for offshore wind, The results of the DARD Agricultural Census (June 2003)6 by county were used to identify the location and numbers of broilers by County. County Onshore wind, MWe Reference material suggests that litter output from broilers is MWe GWh/year % total NI 2.5 tonne per 1,000 birds. However, with changes in Total Co. Antrim 94.0 313 17% management systems and shorter growing cycles, a more Total Co. Armagh 12.5 42 2% realistic figures reflecting current practice is 1.4 tonnes per Total Co. Down 92.5 308 16% 1,000 birds7. There are around 85 million broiler chickens8 Total Co. Fermanagh 89.3 297 16% reared in NI per year, which using this figure gives a Total Co. Londonderry 70.5 235 13% production of around 120,000 tpa of poultry litter. Total Co. Tyrone 205.8 685 36% Whilst any generation projects would be competing with the NI Total 564.6 1880 100 mushroom and the farming industries for the resource, it is the opinion of one industry developer9 that, as the mushroom A.3 Biomass industry in NI is contracting at the moment, up to 2,000 tonnes per week of litter could be made available for electricity generation without adversely affecting mushroom production. A.3.1 Poultry litter and spent mushroom compost Poultry litter – Methodology and Results Poultry litter The existing plants in the UK consume around 45% of the UK Poultry litter is the bedding material from broiler houses, poultry litter resource10. In order to estimate the feasible comprising wood shavings, straw, and droppings. It is used by resource in NI, it was assumed in this report that 45% of the the farming industry as a fertiliser, and by the mushroom region’s resource could be used, ie around 55,000 tpa (1,000 industry to produce mushroom compost. tonnes per week). This amount of litter would support an The technology for generating power from poultry litter is equivalent installed capacity of 5.5 MW. commercially proven in the UK. There are three plants in The following assumptions were used in order to calculate the England and Scotland, operating under NFFO and SRO feasible resource for chicken litter and SMC energy contracts, ranging in size from 10 MW to 38 MW. There are production: currently no such projects in NI. • CV = 13.5 GJ/tonne All these are thermal plants ie. they combust the material then • Net electrical efficiency of plant = 24% use the heat produced to raise steam for power generation. • Capacity factor of plant = 85% Additionally, poultry litter can be mixed with cattle slurry and • A feasible resource of 45% of the total used as the digestate in an anaerobic digester4. Some litter is being disposed of in this way in NI at present5.

Poultry litter – Data used for this report

4 DARD Peter Frost, 2003 8 Letter from Linda Meldrum, DARD, November 2003 5 David Graham of Moy Park Foods, December 2003 9 David Graham of Moy Park Foods, December 2003 6 www.dardni.gov.uk/econs/spub001d.htm 10 “New and Renewable Energy: Prospects for the UK in the 21st Century: 7 Letter from Linda Meldrum, DARD, November 2003 Suporting Analysis”, ETSU for DTI, March 1999

GENERIC RESOURCE OPPORTUNITIES March 2004 39 A appendix A

Table A.3: Feasible resource identified for poultry litter, We are aware that a proposed SMC incineration plant in by county Monaghan is currently in public consultation13. We have, however, been unable to obtain further information on the size County Poultry Litter, MWe and location of the planned facility.

MWe GWh/year % total NI Spent mushroom compost - Sources of data used for this report Total Co. Antrim 2.2 16.0 39% DARD indicate that from April 2002 – March 2003 NI Total Co. Armagh 0.5 3.2 8% composters produced 126,858 tonnes of compost of which Total Co. Down 0.7 5.0 13% 71,040 tonnes (56%) was sold to growers in NI14. Scientific Total Co. Londonderry 0.3 2.0 5% research (Arunsing 1983) suggests that at the end of the Total Co. Tyrone 1.9 13.4 35% growing period 88% of the original amount of compost remains as spent mushroom compost15. This would give a figure of NI Total 5.6 39.6 100 62,000 tonnes SMC.

Spent mushroom compost Spent mushroom compost – Methodology and Results

A considerable quantity of poultry litter is used as a basis for We have been unable to obtain location-specific data on the mushroom compost. DARD estimate that around 20% of the mushroom growing industry. However, were this 62,000 total tonnage of poultry litter available is used annually for tonnes of SMC used directly in a thermal treatment plant, it mushroom compost production11. support the equivalent installed capacity of 6 MW, generating 47 GWh/year (using a net CV of 13.5 GJ/tonne, net electrical The area for mushroom production in N Ireland is scattered efficiency of 24% and capacity factor of 85%). throughout the province but is concentrated in the counties of Armagh, Tyrone, and South Down. The industry is under pressure to reduce the quantity of spent mushroom compost A.3.2 Short rotation willow coppice (SMC) spread on the land in order to improve river water Grassland makes up 80% of the total land farmed in NI. quality, there is legislation in place to progressively increase Grassland is suitable for farming short rotation coppice (SRC) landfill tax, and there are pressures to reduce the quantity of willow or miscanthus grass as energy crops, although there organic material sent to landfill sites. appears to be some indication that miscanthus is currently not One trial study to combust SMC12 was carried out at the likely to be suitable for commercial production systems in 16 University of Ulster (NICERT). A technical, environmental and parts of N Ireland . SRC can be farmed on grassland that is economic assessment study of a conceptual 100,000 “set aside” land or can displace grassland currently used for tonnes/annum fluidised bed combustion plant was performed. beef production. Two possible sites for an SMC combustion unit were identified, from Monaghan to Aughnacloy along the route of the N2 and from Monaghan to Middletown, along the route of the N12. The study suggested that the gate fee would need to be between £10 - £15 per tonne for the scheme to be economic. A plant of 100,000 tpa would require SMC to be imported from outside Monaghan County, as the production of SMC in Monaghan is 70,000 tpa – this SMC could potentially come from NI.

11 Mairead Kilpatrick, DARD, Feb 2004 14 Letter from Linda Meldrum, DARD, November 2003 12 Williams, 2001, “Energy from spent mushroom compost” 15 Letter from Linda Meldrum, DARD, November 2003 13 Mairead Kilpatrick, DARD, November 2003 16 Letter from Alistair Carson, DARD, 28/10/04

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SRC willow is grown on a 2 to 4 year rotation, and has been Data used for this report grown successfully in NI17. DARD indicate that de-coupling of support payments is likely SRC willow may be effective18 in a number of other uses, for to have an impact on beef cow numbers and that recent which the harvesting of the willow as an energy crop may modelling studies indicate a drop of 50,000 cows representing become of secondary importance, eg: approximately 33,000 ha (at 1.5 livestock units/ha) over the period to 2012. • disposal of sewage sludge • biofiltration system for sewage works effluent It is the opinion of DARD that availability of land upon which to • as poultry bedding grow SRC willow is not likely to be the limiting factor, and that the primary determinant will be the profitability of farming SRC An integrated gasification combined cycle power plant, partly willow. fuelled by SRC willow, was commissioned in North Yorkshire (the “ARBRE” project) in 2000. The plant is a demonstration The actual uptake of SRC production depends heavily on the plant of 8 MW capacity, partly funded by the EC, which levels of grant aid or other growing incentives available. operates under a NFFO3 contract. SRC willow is grown on Funding for the establishment of SRC willow is provided under set-aside arable and reclaimed land and is transported to the the woodland provision of the NI Rural Development Plan. plant from resources within a 60 km radius. Higher grant rates for the establishment of SRC are available in England compared with the rest of the UK, through the The plant has, however encountered financial and technical DEFRA Energy Crops Scheme, although it is important to note difficulties and is currently non-operational. In NI, there have that the entry requirements of this scheme are much more been similar, successful projects developed on a much smaller stringent20. scale. The ETSU report of 199921 for the UK uses the DTI NRE There is currently one CHP plant fuelled by SRC willow programme to model the uptake of farmers to grow energy operating under an NI-NFFO contract at Brook Hall Estate, crops. It uses “trigger” mechanisms, where energy crops are County Londonderry. compared with the net margins per hectare on a range where The transportation costs of SRC willow are high due to its low energy crops are compared with the net margins per hectare bulk density and hence the SRC willow plantations need to be on a range of existing agricultural enterprises. This model close to the generating plant. It is the opinion of an industry predicts that an additional margin of 25% over existing uses developer in NI that 7 km is the maximum distance that SRC would trigger a land switch (to SRC) of 6%. willow can economically be transported for a CHP scheme19. Methodology and Results The figure used by DEFRA to qualify for an establishment grant under the Energy Crops scheme is 10 miles (for small This report has used a figure of 5,000 ha22 as the area of installations). farmland in which SRC would be grown. 5,000 ha of land would produce around 60,000 tpa oven dried timber, which would generate around 53 GWh/year of electricity.

20 Letter from Alistair Carson, DARD, 28/10/04 21 ETSU for DTI, “New and Renewable Energy: Prospects in the UK for the 21st Century: Supporting Analysis”, March 1999 22 Ref: Figure given in letter from A carson, DARD, January 2004, in order to 17 Discussion with Malcolm Dawson of DARD, March 2002 recommend a strategy and action programme capable of meeting a 18 Malcolm Dawson, DARD, and Michael Doran, Rural Generation minimum target of 15% of the renewable contribution through biomass 19 Michael Doran of Rural Generation, Dec. 2003 generation from the agri-food and forestry sectors.

GENERIC RESOURCE OPPORTUNITIES March 2004 41 A appendix A

The results of the DARD Agricultural Census (June 2002)23 A.3.3 Forest products and forest residues were used to identify the location and area of grassland on a Forest residues Rural District basis. These figures were adjusted pro rata across NI for an NI total of 5,000 ha. From these figures, a total Forestry residues are the part of the tree left in the forest after feasible resource was estimated, by calculating the total harvesting, including branches, bark, and tree tops, and can amount of SRC willow produced per year and its energy account for half of the forest yield. At present, forest residues 24 content in when used in an electricity generation plant. are not used in NI .

The following assumptions were used in order to calculate the There are both environmental and economic considerations feasible resource for SRC energy production: associated with the harvesting of forest residues and using them to generate heat or electricity which make it currently • the total area of land switched to SRC willow uneconomic to recover them for energy production production was assumed to be around 5,000 ha; purposes25. Figures for the cost of retrieving residues from the • an average yield of 12 oven dried tonnes (ODT) forest are difficult to find, though the Forestry Commission has of wood per hectare per year; given indicative figures of around £13/wet tonne delivered to • an overall electrical conversion efficiency of the roadside in Kielder, Northumberland26. 24%, based on existing biomass-fuelled generation plants; Technology to generate electricity from wood and forest • a CV of 18 GJ/tonne for oven dried timber; residues is well established. There are projects in Sweden • a typical capacity factor of 85% for the and Finland, fuelled in part by forest residues, ranging in size generating plant. from one to several hundred MW. In addition, it is common practice in the wood products industry to use wood waste as a Table A.4: Feasible resource identified for SRC willow, by fuel for on-site heat demands. The 38 MW chicken litter plant county in Thetford, UK, is supplemented by 8% forest residues and wood chips. County SRC willow, MWe There is currently one CHP plant fuelled by wood chips MWe GWh/year % total NI operating under an NI-NFFO contract at Blackwater museum. Total Co. Antrim 1.5 10.8 21% However, it is our understanding that the second 100 kW Total Co. Armagh 0.8 5.8 11% engine at Blackwater has not been commissioned, and the Total Co. Down 1.3 9.3 18% second gasifier has not worked consistently.

Total Co. Fermanagh 0.9 6.9 13% Forest residues – Methodology and Results Total Co. Londonderry 1.0 7.4 14% This report has considered the feasible resource for forest Total Co. Tyrone 1.7 12.3 23% residues as zero, as it is currently uneconomic to exploit this NI Total 7.2 52.5 100 resource.

23 www.dardni.gov.uk/econs/spub001d.htm 24 Meeting with the Forest Service, November 2003 25 Meeting with The Forest Service, November 2003 26 Mike Shuttleworth, Kielder Marketing Officer, Forestry Commission, March 2004

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The technical resource, however, is as follows. In NI 1,000 ha The new plant will use 166,000 tonnes of surplus sawdust and of forest are clearfelled per year. If it is assumed that 250 ha woodchips from the sawmill to produce wood pellets for of this give harvestable residues27 and will yield 80 to 90 green onward sale as a fuel and to generate 2 MW of electricity and tonnes per ha, then potentially 20,000 tpa of green wood 10 MW of heat. The heat will be used both in the timber would be exploitable were the economic conditions drying kilns and in the production of the 50,000 tpa wood favourable. This quantity of green wood has an energy pellets. The wood pellets will have a relatively high energy content of around 200,000 GJ. Were this to be used for density, so are easy to transport, and can be used in a range electricity generation, it would yield around 8 GWh/year (using of installations from large heating plants to domestic boilers. a net electrical efficiency of 24% and a capacity factor of These boilers can be equipped with automatic fuel feeding 85%). systems and so represent an alternative to oil or electric heating. Forest products Forest products – Methodology and Results Forest/wood co-products include sawmill residues, excess smallwood, and the residues and offcuts from the In order to estimate the resource for sawmill residues in NI, the manufactured wood products industries such as particleboard sawmills were contacted to establish their annual throughput of or MDF. timber and whether they already use the residues on site for heat or electrical generation. The proportion of wood and wood waste which can be used for energy generation depends on a number of factors, Assumptions to calculate the feasible resource were as including the price of the wood and wood waste, the demand follows: for wood-based products, as well as the price of electricity • Residue from the sawmill = 55% of throughput and heat. • A CV of 10 GJ/tonne, for wood as harvested Only half of the volume of logs processed at the sawmills ends • An net electrical efficiency of 24% for the CHP up as saleable timber. The remainder ends up as by-products plant, based on existing technology such as bark, wood chips and sawdust. Some of this is used • A typical capacity factor of 85% for the CHP in the manufactured wood products industries, such as plant particleboard or MDF. According to Balcas28, the entire log Table A.5: Feasible resource identified for sawmill residue, processing industry has grown by 40% in the last two years, by county and the market for the by-products has shrunk.

Balcas is the largest wood processing company in NI and has County Sawmill residue, MWe sawmills in Fermanagh, and Londonderry, as well as overseas. MWe GWh/year % total NI A CHP project proposed at Balcas sawmill in Enniskillen has recently been awarded a grant of £4.5 million in total from the Total Co. Antrim 0.1 0.5 2% DTI's Bioenergy Capital Grants Scheme and from NIE and is Total Co. Fermanagh 3.3 24.4 62% due to start production in 2004. Total Co. Londonderry 1.8 13.5 34%

Total Co. Tyrone 0.1 0.6 2%

NI Total 5.3 39.0 100

27 Letter from A Carson, DARD, January 2004 28 Renewable Energy Initiative brochure, Balcas, undated

GENERIC RESOURCE OPPORTUNITIES March 2004 43 A appendix A

A.3.4 Straw The following assumptions were used to calculate the feasible resource on a county level: Straw is a by-product of cereal and oil seed crops grown for food. These crops are harvested each summer and the straw • An average yield of 3.4 tonnes/ha is either baled for use within agriculture or ploughed back into • A CV of 15 GJ/tonne for straw the soil29. No significant quantities of straw are ploughed in • a boiler efficiency of 40% across NI, and NI as a relatively small arable sector relative to • a feasible resource of 5% of the annual straw livestock sector, hence straw commands a high price. production

Generating power from straw is a proven, established, As the Ely plant currently consumes around 5% of the annual technology. Whilst there are no straw generating plants in NI, unused straw resource in England, it would seem reasonable the technology is established for large scale energy to adopt this figure as an upper limit in NI. This results in a production in Denmark. In England there is a 36 MW straw figure too small to be viable as electricity generation and it is fired plant at Ely, operating under a NFFO3 contract. The plant likely the straw would be used for heat generation projects, is supplemented by natural gas. Pyrolysis of straw is under rather than power generation by 2010. development, but there are no commercial projects as yet. A number of UK farms use straw fired boilers for on-site heat A.4 Hydro-electricity requirements. In Northern Ireland, attempts have been made over the past 50 Methodology and Results years to build large-scale hydro projects31. These, however, did not go ahead because of environmental constraints. There is a ready market for straw in NI for animal bedding, mushroom composting, and poultry bedding. The market value Hydro power is generated from the energy available in flowing of straw is a key issue determining whether it is cost effective water. Two major factors which must be considered when to burn as a fuel or not. Transport costs, however, are a large identifying potential sites for hydro schemes are head (the part of the market price of straw, and it may be cost effective vertical distance between the water intake and outlet levels) to burn the straw on a domestic scale on the farm at which it is and the volume of flow. Hydro schemes also require a suitably produced. Co-firing with coal and fluidised bed combustion sized rainfall catchment area to produce enough power to were not considered, due to the small size of the resource in make the scheme economically viable. Northern Ireland. Methodology and Results The results of the DARD Agricultural Census (June 2002)30 As a detailed evaluation of the hydropower resource in NI is were used to identify the location and area of straw crops on a beyond the scope of this study, the 21 applications made for Rural District basis. From these figures, a total technical NI-NFFO 1 and 2 contracts were used to assess the feasible resource was estimated, by calculating the total amount of resource, as these are likely to be the most economically and straw produced per year and its energy content when used in technically feasible in NI (note, however, that only a few of a heat only boiler plant. these have been developed – the reasons behind this have not been investigated at this stage).

29 “New and Renewable Energy: Prospects for the UK in the 21st Century: Supporting Analysis”, ETSU for DTI, March 1999 30 www.dardni.gov.uk/econs/spub001d.htm 31 “Renewable Energy in the Millennium, the NI Potential”, ETSU for NIE and DED, June 1999

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The projects range from 30 to 800 kW and have an aggregate p/kWh and 6.4 p/kWh depending on the number of turbines in total across the 6 counties of 8 MW. the scheme. This design is currently limited to water depths of between 20 to 40 m, although it is possible that suitable Table A.6: Feasible resource identified for hydro-electricity, technology may become available in the next 10 years which by county will allow the exploitation of deeper fast-moving currents in NI waters. County Hydro-electricity, MWe MWe GWh/year % total NI The second is a machine known as the Stingray, which is being developed by The Engineering Business (EB) based in Total Co. Antrim 4.7 22.8 57% NE England. The prototype works on the principal of an Total Co. Armagh 0.7 3.3 8% oscillating hydroplane and underwent offshore testing in the Total Co. Down 0.4 1.7 4% Shetland Islands during summer 2003. EB give a provisional Total Co. Fermanagh 0.2 1.0 3% estimate of a cost of between 5 p/kWh to 19 p/kWh for the 1 Total Co. Londonderry 1.7 8.2 21% MW units. They are planning a “pre-commercial” (funded by Total Co. Tyrone 0.6 2.7 7% EB) demonstration installation of five to ten 1 MW units, grid NI Total 8.3 39.7 100 connected, in 2005/2006. Water depth is not critical to the siting of the generator and location is dependent upon the A.5 Tidal power clearance required above it (for shipping etc). Speed of the tidal stream is the determining factor. Tidal power can be harnessed in two ways: by the Methodology and Results construction of a barrage, through which water flows to provide power to turbine generators and, secondly, by using the Whilst it is worthwhile monitoring the progress of these energy in the currents created by tidal streams. demonstration projects it is, however, not possible at this stage to predict with confidence the cost of electricity produced from Tidal barrages, whilst a commercially proven technology, are tidal power generators. Figures given by MCT and the EB are not considered as viable in NI as it is unlikely that estimated at this stage. The size of the resource which is environmental constraints could be overcome. Therefore the technically and economically able to be harnessed in the resource has not been quantified in this study. period to 2010 depends on planning constraints (particularly in There are a number of prototype devices available which can Strangford Narrows) and the success of the technology, which generate electricity by using the energy in the currents created is at present at the prototype stage. by tidal streams. Two British based companies are currently in For the purposes of this study, the feasible resource has been the preliminary stages of testing their concepts for tidal stream given as zero. generators, funded by DTI.

The first is a mono-pile mounted 11 m diameter rotor being developed by Marine Current Turbines (MCT). The experimental prototype underwent trials during 2003 off the coast of Devon. MCT plan a pre-commercial installation in 2004-5 of 3 to 4 extra units to give an aggregate power of about 4 – 5 MW. In a report32 giving the potential for deploying the turbines in NI, MCT give a provisional cost of between 3.37

32 “The Potential for the use of Marine Current Energy in Northern Ireland”, June 2003, for DTI/DETI/NIE, Whittacker, Fraekel, Bell, Lugg

GENERIC RESOURCE OPPORTUNITIES March 2004 45 A appendix A

A.6 Municipal and agricultural wastes The draft EU Bio Waste Directive encourages the recycling of food waste to agricultural land to improve the organic quality The resource in NI for generating electricity from waste of soil. This will reduce the quantity of MSW available for includes the thermal conversion of MSW and thermal treatment. commercial/industrial waste; gas from landfill sites; and the thermal conversion and generation of biogas from sewage The EU Animal By-products Regulation requires abattoir waste, sludge. food factory waste, and (by 2005) retail outlet waste to be treated. This will impact upon the choice of technology used to dispose of the MSW. A.6.1 Municipal solid waste Technology for energy from waste (EfW) by incineration is well Councils in the eastern, southern, and north west regions of NI established and fully proven. The Waste Management have formed partnerships in order to develop waste Strategy for NI36 supports energy from waste and states that management plans. “development of energy from waste facilities will be necessary Eleven councils in the eastern region of NI formed a to meet the targets set in the Landfill Directive”. partnership known as arc2133. Eight councils in the southern There are plants operating in the UK fuelled by MSW and region have formed the Southern Waste Management commercial waste to generate power. Ten plants became Partnership34 “to develop a waste management system that operational under NFFO1, 2, 3, although none are operational meets the region's needs and contributes to economic and under NI-NFFO1 or 2. A contract with Tiru/Saur for an EfW sustainable development”. Seven Councils have formed the plant in Belfast (6.65 MW) was awarded under NI-NFFO2, but North West Region Waste Management Group35 “expressly for the scheme has not yet been commenced. strategic waste planning purposes and to provide community and civic leadership in the provision of improved waste Under the Renewables Obligation in England and Wales, management services”. electricity generated from MSW is only regarded as renewable (and therefore eligible for Renewable Obligation Certificates) if The Eastern Waste Management Plan is the only one of the it is produced from a plant employing advanced thermal three which supports or even mentions an EfW thermal conversion technology, such as gasification, pyrolysis or treatment plant. The Southern Waste Management Partnership anaerobic digestion. Only the biodegradable element of the and North West Region Waste Management Group consider feedstock to the plant (typically 50% of the total input) is that waste minimization, reuse, recycling and composting are considered a renewable fuel. On this basis, therefore, necessary. assuming that advanced technologies are employed, of a total The quantity of MSW produced in NI is increasing by around installed capacity of 16.6 MW, approximately 8 MW of 2% every year. Whilst the government has adopted targets to renewable-energy capacity could be supplied from the recycle or compost at least 30% of household waste by 2010, renewable components of the Greater Belfast waste stream by 70% of the waste will have to be disposed of. The increasing 2010. cost of landfill (and its scarcity) will be a driver for the financial viability of such plants, as this determines the gate fee that can be charged for burning the waste.

33 www.arc21.com 34 www.swampni.org.uk 35 www.northwestwasteplan.org.uk 36 “Waste Management Strategy, Northern Ireland” (undated)

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Methodology and Results Table A.7: Feasible resource identified for MSW, by county

Estimates for the MSW resource were based on the DoE’s Waste Management Strategy for NI; and for commercial and County MSW, MWe industrial waste from the DoE’s Waste Arisings Survey for NI MWe GWh/year % total NI 1999 to 2000 37.

The total annual waste arisings figures estimated for 2000 for Total Co. Antrim 13.0 96.8 100% MSW and commercial and industrial wastes are 867,500 tpa NI Total 13.0 96.8 100 and 532,500 tpa respectively. These quantities are likely to increase at about 2-3 per cent per year.

It was assumed that where annual waste arisings within a 30 km radius are less than 80,000 tpa, an MSW incineration plant A.6.2 Sewage sludge is not viable on the grounds of transportation costs. This is By 2010, the Water Service estimates that total sludge based on experience of other EfW schemes. Hence a plant production in NI will be equivalent to 52,000 tonnes of dry was considered for Greater Belfast only. The plant was sized solids (tds). on a throughput of 250,000 tpa equivalent to an installed capacity of 13 MW. Sewage sludge can be used for electricity generation either by anaerobic digestion of the sludge (and using the biogas The capital and operating costs of a gasification plant are generated in a reciprocating engine) or by the incineration of significantly higher than for mass-burn types. Whilst the the sludge (and generating steam to drive a steam turbine). emissions can be controlled more reliably, a significant step change in emissions legislation would be required in order to There is an existing incinerator in Belfast, situated next to the favour gasification over incineration from a commercial viability main Belfast water treatment works at Dargan Road, perspective. processing around 20,000 tpa of sludge. The combined heat and power incineration plant generates electricity and uses Assumptions used to calculate the feasible resource are as waste heat to dry sludge. Currently there is around 30,000 tpa follows: of sludge produced in NI. The remainder which is not • CV of unsorted MSW = 8.5 GJ/tonne processed in the incinerator is dewatered and then sent to • overall electrical efficiency of plant = 20% landfill. • capacity factor of plant = 85%

37 “Industrial, Municipal and Commercial Waste Arising Survey for Northern Ireland for the Year 1999 to 2000 Summary Report”, August 2001

GENERIC RESOURCE OPPORTUNITIES March 2004 47 A appendix A

Methodology and Results development although we understand that it has now received government funding to proceed. This would treat a mix of From a telephone conversation with the Water Service38, we 50% slurry and 50% food waste, and a small amount of poultry understand the following: litter40. Gas produced would be used in the two 1 MW • An incinerator with an additional capacity of engines, and the waste heat would be used in the farm 30,000 tpa is due to be commissioned in 2008, creamery, a school swimming pool, and a district heating bringing the total processing capacity to 50,000 network. tpa. This will effectively process all the sewage The critical elements which determine the location of the plant sludge in NI. It is envisaged by the Water is the proximity of adequate slurry, and a market for the waste Service that all of the electricity produced will heat. The proximity of the food wastes is less critical, but there be used at the adjacent Belfast water treatment must be food processors (including abattoirs) and catering works. waste available reasonably close to the plant. It is the opinion • It is the intention of the Water Service that no of an industry developer in NI, that slurry should be located within 10 new sewage gas projects will be developed. km of the plant and food processors within 40 – 50 km.41 For the purposes of this report, the feasible resource for In addition, because the digestate (the slurry and food waste sewage sludge digestion (producing biogas) has been given feed stock) contains nutrients from both slurry and food waste, as zero. The feasible resource for incineration of the sludge is a larger area of land is required for the biofertiliser than that dependent on the strategy of the Water Service, and a county which produced the slurry, and there must be adequate land by county resource has not been identified for exploitation in on which to spread the biofertiliser close to the plant. this report. There have been successful CHP or heat-only schemes in NI A.6.3 Agricultural wastes on a much smaller scale than the proposed scheme at Fivemiletown. The margins are tight at this lower size due to Wet agricultural wastes include slurry from pig and cattle lack of economies of scale. As the slurry would be spread on farming, which accumulates when the animals are kept the land anyway, added value may be obtained by either indoors over winter, and chicken slurry from commercial egg generating electricity or charging a gate fee for processing layers. Slurry would usually be stored for a period of several other waste. months before being applied to agricultural land. It can, however, undergo biological treatment such as anaerobic Methodology and Results digestion to produce biogas. This contains methane (up to The results of the DARD Agricultural Census (June 2002)42 65%) which can be used as a fuel for heating or for power were used to identify the location and number of cattle and generation. pigs on a Rural District basis. From these figures, a total In order for a biogas project to be viable, a proportion of food technical resource was estimated, by calculating the total waste must also be processed with the slurry39. This improves amount of slurry produced per year and its energy content in the CV of the biogas. A “gate fee” can be charged for when used in an anaerobic digestion plant. accepting the food waste.

The technology for anaerobic digestion is commercially proven and widely applied in Denmark. A similar plant in Fivemiletown in NI is in the preliminary stages of project

38 Harvey Brunker, Oct 2003 41 Discussion with William Waterson, Fivemiletown Biogas project, 39 Discussion with Famatic, Holsworthy, April 2002 November 2003 40 Meeting with Moy Park Foods, Dec 2003 42 www.dardni.gov.uk/econs/spub001d.htm

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The extent of the resource available in 2010 would depend A.6.4 Landfill gas amongst other factors, however, on future environmental Power generation from landfill gas has existed in the UK since legislation relating to the management of farm slurry including 1984, and is a commercially proven process. the Water Framework Directive which is likely to limit or restrict the spreading of slurries to land. In addition, the market for Landfill gas is a methane-rich biogas which is formed from the the food waste resource would depend on future legislation decomposition of organic material in landfill. The gas is drawn relating to the management of biodegradable waste. from the landfill site through a network of pipes, and is cleaned before being supplied to a reciprocating engine or a gas In order to estimate the maximum contribution by 2010, it was turbine to generate electricity. It can be used also directly in assumed that 20% of the current technical resource could be kilns or boilers. used for electricity generation, which includes both the farm slurry and food waste resource. This figure would appear to Methodology and Results be consistent with that of industry developers43. Data on landfill sites (which is required to calculate the The following assumptions have been used to estimate the resource available in NI) is not held centrally by a government feasible resource on a county level: department, as each Council is responsible for its own waste management. • useable methane production = 5 Nm3/tonne of slurry From the waste management plans of the Eastern, North West • gas required as heat to heat the digester = 33% and Southern regions, we identified 21 landfill sites which have • net electrical efficiency of generator = 35% greater than 200,000 tpa total deposited over a 10-15 year • capacity factor of generator = 85% time period, as this is considered to be the minimum size • feasible resource of 20% of the technical required for an economic landfill gas generation scheme44. resource The District and Borough Councils of the twenty one landfill sites identified were contacted (and the operators of the

Table A.8: Feasible resource identified for agricultural landfill sites if applicable) for further details on the landfill. Of slurry, by county the councils contacted, four councils replied with data that was used in the report. For the landfill sites for which we were County agricultural slurry, MWe unable to obtain data, we have made the following MWe GWh/year % total NI assumptions in order to calculate the exploitable resource:

Total Co. Antrim 1.0 7.4 21% • all the landfill sites are fully engineered, lined Total Co. Armagh 0.6 4.5 12% with the appropriate materials and that the Total Co. Down 0.9 6.9 19% landfill sites have pipes in place for gas Total Co. Fermanagh 0.5 3.8 10% extraction. • the landfill sites started receiving waste Total Co. Londonderry 0.7 5.0 14% between the years 1990 to 1997. There is a lag Total Co. Tyrone 1.2 8.6 24% of 2 years before gas is produced from the NI Total 4.9 36.2 100 landfill sites, and this results in the maximum volume of landfill gas to be extracted in a 10 year period from 2004 to 2014. • the project lifetime has been taken to be 10 years

43 Discussion with Clare Lockhurst, Consultant for the Holsworthy project, April 2002 44 “Landfill Gas Development Guidelines”, ETSU for the DTI, Nov 1996

GENERIC RESOURCE OPPORTUNITIES March 2004 49 A appendix A

It should be noted, however, that these theoretical Table A.9: Feasible resource identified for landfill gas, assumptions may lead to an overestimation of the resource, as by county we were unable to obtain data on: County landfill gas, MWe • what type of waste is in the landfill MWe GWh/year % total NI • at what rate it was deposited • whether the landfill site has been engineered to Total Co. Antrim 10.2 75.6 43% collect the methane gas generated, ie has been Total Co. Armagh 3.0 22.1 13% lined and capped. Total Co. Down 5.1 38.1 22% The information obtained from four of the landfill sites Total Co. Fermanagh 0.9 6.7 4% suggested that the waste produced was approximately a 5:1 Total Co. Londonderry 2.9 21.9 12% ratio for domestic waste to commercial waste. Commercial Total Co. Tyrone 1.6 11.7 7% waste was split further into three categories of paper/card, NI Total 23.7 176.1 100 wood and inert materials.

Gas production was estimated using a PBP in-house software model. The model uses historical annual waste deposition data, broken down by waste category (eg domestic waste, industrial waste, commercial waste, civic amenity waste, inert waste). Each type of waste degrades at different rates, but each follows a generally exponential decay curve. The gas from each type of waste is then aggregated to provide a maximum total site ‘resource’ curve.

Within the programme, the same conditions were applied for all of the landfill sites to calculate the feasible resource:

• site collection efficiency of landfill gas = 75% • the methane content of the landfill gas = 45% • there is a continuous and sufficient supply of landfill gas at all times • assumed electrical efficiency = 39%

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A.7 Solar power A.7.2 Passive solar power The objective of passive solar design in buildings is to utilise A.7.1 Photovoltaic power the solar gain of the building and air currents generated by the solar gain to regulate the temperature in the building. This Photovoltaic (PV) materials generate an electric potential when minimises the consumption of power for heating, cooling, and exposed to light. The dc current from the PV cells can be lighting. used directly or fed through an inverter in order to provide ac power. Methodology

In NI the most likely application for PV panels is to be mounted Passive solar power does not contribute directly to the on existing buildings or on new buildings as a substitute for generation of electricity and, whilst it does impact on demand materials such as glass façade, roof materials or shading management, it has not been considered in this study. films. In the latter case there is an avoided cost of new building materials. The high capital cost of a PV installation, however, remains the major obstacle to the widespread application of technology. Until July 2004 grants are available of up to 60% of the installation cost, through The Energy Saving Trust45 topped up by NIE to a maximum of 75% for domestic and community groups.

PV integrated into an average glazed office block is likely to become commercially viable towards 2020, and in domestic buildings towards 202546 47.

Methodology

The estimate of the technical resource in NI requires detailed modelling which is beyond the scope of this study. The location of the installations would be scattered throughout the region.

45 The Energy Saving Trust, website www.est.co.uk/solar/ 46 PV-WEB, On-line information service of the British Photovoltaic Association, www.pv-uk.org.uk 47 Discussion with Dr Nicola Pearsall of the University of Northumbria, March 2002

GENERIC RESOURCE OPPORTUNITIES March 2004 51 clean energy... ..you hold the power

appendix B

Cost of Renewable sourced electricity B

APPENDIX G - BIBLIOGRAPHY NFFO competitions and those calculated in other RE studies. Resources have been identified on an individual site-by-site This Appendix presents the results of the economic evaluation basis. Costs of energy production were calculated for each of the cost of electricity from the different renewable sourced site taking into account: energy technologies, extracted from the 2002 NIE/DETI report1 • Fuel or feedstock costs. (all text in italics is quoted directly from the 2002 report). Note • Capital cost estimates of facility. that there is no re-work of these original figures. • Operation and maintenance costs. The evaluation of costs associated with system operational • Cost of connecting the facility to the grid. considerations is not reproduced here, and can be found in Section 3.3 and Appendix D of the 2002 report. Hence, for example, the costs for wind generation in this report do not include costs associated with accommodating intermittent wind generation on the grid system (such as provision of standby plant).

Economic evaluation is based upon our experience of similar existing renewable energy projects in the UK. We have limited this review to those technologies which could contribute to the renewables target by 2010.

The Appendix includes a comparison (in Table B.4) between our cost predictions and those submitted under the two NI-

1 “Renewable Energy Resources in Northern Ireland”, PB Power 2002 for NIE and DETI

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B.1 Fuel and feedstock costs B.2 Capital costs

Estimates of fuel and feedstock costs for renewable generation Capital cost estimates have been made for typical renewable projects are summarised in Table B.1. Clearly there are no fuel generation projects for each of the technology types costs associated with wind, photovoltaic and hydro power considered, and summarised in Table B.2 below. The capital generation. In the cases of municipal waste and for the food costs for the biomass, energy from waste and photovoltaic waste fuel used in combination with farm slurry, the overall projects were obtained from data on existing renewable cost of fuels are completely offset by the gate fees charged for energy schemes. The costs for hydro electric power projects these respective technologies. were obtained from the 1999 ETSU report2. The capital cost estimates for the onshore wind farms were calculated from PBP in house data and include a generic cost for the electrical connection at a % of the project capex. Those for offshore wind farms were taken from the Assessment of Offshore Wind Energy Resources report3.

Table B.1: Specific Fuel and Feedstock Cost Estimates Table B.2: Specific Capital Cost Estimates

Example Project Example Project Unit cost Sent Out Specific Fuel installed capacity Total Specific Costs Technology of Fuel Generation (MWh) Costs (p/kWh) Technology (MW) capital cost (£) (£/kWe) Wood Residues 5 9 100 000 1820 Wood Residues £34/t 37230 2.83 1) Farm Slurry - - - 0 Farm Slurry 2.1 5 005 000 2383 Hydro - - - 0 Hydro 1 1 150 000 1150 SRC £25/t 587 2.1 SRC2) 0.1 89 700 897 Poultry Waste £6.85 /t 72971 1.1 Straw 1 1 820 000 1820 Municipal Industrial Waste - - 0 Poultry Waste 9.8 19 396 000 1979 Photovoltaics - - 0 Municipal Industrial Waste 16.6 50 194 735 3024 Onshore Wind - - 0 Landfill gas 1 700 000 700 Offshore Wind - - 0 Photovoltaics 0.1 970 000 9700 Onshore Wind - - 560-910 Offshore Wind - - 1000 Notes 1) Costs net of £3.85m EU grant.

2) Costs net of £69k European Regional Development Fund grant

2 “Renewable Energy in the Millennium , the NI Potential”, ETSU for NIE and DED, June 1999 3 “Assessment of Offshore Wind Energy Resources in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland” report, carried out on behalf of the two respective Governments

GENERIC RESOURCE OPPORTUNITIES March 2004 53 B appendix B

B.3 Operating and maintenance costs B.4.2 Offshore wind

Table B.3 presents a summary of typical operation and Our estimate of the total specific capital cost for offshore wind maintenance (O&M) costs for renewable energy projects in the farms (£1,000/kW) as shown in Table B.2 includes an estimate UK. The O&M cost for the onshore wind farms is the product of all connection costs from the turbines through to the nearest of the estimated annual net electrical energy production level 110 kV transmission node on the mainland. and a standard cost per kWh rate covering all operation and maintenance (O&M) requirements. B.4.3 Non-wind technologies

The specific O&M costs shown in Table B.3 (expressed in For the purposes of this study the connection costs for the p/kWhe) comprise both fixed and variable O&M costs non-wind powered renewable projects were assumed to be calculated from the installed capacities of the plants. negligible and well within the estimating accuracy of the unit capital cost figures. With the exception of the EfW and Landfill Gas projects the majority of the projects have relatively small Table B.3: Typical O&M costs for UK Renewable installed capacities for which it is envisaged that local Energy Projects connection to the 11 kV system would not entail excessive Example Project cost. The EfW and Landfill Gas projects are likely to be in the installed capacity Total Specific Costs Belfast area and are likely to be connected directly onto the 33 Technology (MW) capital cost (£) (p/kWe) kV system, again at relatively low cost. The costs associated Wood Residues 5 450 000 1.21 with the connection of non-wind projects are incorporated into Farm Slurry 2.1 210 000 1.46 our capital cost estimates and have not therefore been Hydro 1 23 000 0.48 considered in further detail. SRC 0.1 9 000 1.53 Straw 1 90 000 1.21 B.5 Lifetime cost of electricity Poultry Waste 9.8 884 747 1.21 Waste 16.6 800 000 0.65 From the above data the operating pattern of the various Landfill gas 1 565 000 0.76 sources of RE generation were determined according to Photovoltaics 0.1 0 0 primary resource availability and technology over a typical annual cycle to determine the cost per kWh of the electricity Onshore Wind - - 0.53 produced from each site. The results are presented in Table Offshore Wind - - 1.1 B.4. B.4 Connection costs

B.4.1 Onshore wind

Connection costs for a sample of the onshore wind farms identified were calculated as part of the 2002 PBP report4. From a sample of the 20 sites the average connection cost was found to be equivalent to 5.0 per cent of the estimated capital cost for the wind farms.

4 “Renewable Energy Resources in Northern Ireland”, PB Power 2002 for NIE and DETI

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Table B.4: Summary of Economic Costs for NI Renewable Energy Projects Cost of Electricity (p/kWh) PBP NI-NFFO 1 NI-NFFO 2 ETSU (%) (GWh/year) Factor 2010 by ) Capacity resource sent out (MW Technology Capacity Plant Max. 8% DR 15% DR 8% DR 15% DR Biomass Biofuels SRC willowPoultry litterStraw and forestry residuesWood waste from Energy Agricultural wastesLandfill gas 7.1Combustion of wasteSewage gas 7.5 power Hydro-electric 5.8Mini Hydro 66% 5.0 85% and tidal power Wave 85% 16.6 powerWave 41Tidal barrage 9.1 84% 56Tidal stream 43 85% 5.69 2.6WIND RENEWABLES NON TOTAL 37 6.61 85% 7.19 56.6 4.12 62 2.9Wind power 85% 8.26 wind powerExisting Onshore 2.00 5.76 68 wind powerCommitted Onshore 0.0 2.00 55% 0.0 wind powerNew Onshore 19 5.33 wind powerOffshore 102.0 0.0 15.0 3.50 2.00 14 ENERGY RENEWABLE TOTAL 3.25 340 4.00 6.95 40% 283.0 40% 2.71-6.78 4.1-6.3 656.6 3.75 4.17-10.42 4.5-7.5 0 200 357 42% 6.84 53 0 3.70 0 2.3-2.8 1049 4.55 3.67 40% 3.3-4.1 7.00 <5.0 2.3-2.8 3.50 2499 700 3.3-4.1 3.25 <7.0 4.00 4.44 3.75 7.37 6.34 4.23 2.5-5.2 3.5-7.5 3.2-6.8

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appendix C

Heat Sales C

C.1 District Heating • Hot water readily available at all times • Possible low cost electricity from CHP plant via District heating uses a centralised heat source (combined heat private wire and power, waste heat, boilers or other) and distributes the • Conserves fossil fuels heat via pre-insulated underground pipes to distant buildings. • Can use readily available sustainable fuel When the pipe enters a building a heat exchanger transfers the sources heat from the district heating system to the building’s internal • Less pollution from sustainable efficient plant heating system. No water is transferred to the buildings • New technology can be integrated more easily system. The customer has full control of the hot water into their at the central energy plant. system and each customer can be metered on their The economic viability of a heat distribution network, on a consumption. The system offers all the advantages of an oil- whole life costing (WLC) basis, depends on a number of or gas- heated system with a heat exchanger taking the place factors: of the boiler. • the capital expense related to the construction Some advantages of District Heating include: or adaptation of the heat source; • Lower heating costs • the capital expense of the pipework itself and • Reduced maintenance and capital replacement the necessary civil works associated with laying costs against boiler systems the pipes along a planned route; • Space saving (for a large user a heat exchanger • the capital expense of connections between the will use 10-20% of the area of boilers) heat network and load nodes; • Space saving (can obviate the need for a hot • operation and maintenance costs of the heating water cylinder in domestic settings) plant; • The consumer only pays for what they use • fuel costs; • Reliable and safe form of heating • the cost of supplying heat to the network; • No need for an oil or LPG tank in buildings

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• the ongoing costs of pumping and Optimum performance, in both environmental and economic pressurisation of the network; terms, is achieved when a local, reliable and concurrent • the ongoing cost associated with heat losses demand for heat and electricity is available. CHP prime- along the network; movers produce heat as an inevitable side-product of the • other costs including project management, power generation process and, although it is possible to dump insurance, decommissioning. heat with appropriate equipment, co-generation can become • the value recovered from the heat delivered less economically efficient than alternative supply options along the network to end users. when this is carried out. The need for concurrent heat and • other sources of revenue available e.g. from electrical demands can be reduced by the use of thermal electricity sales (CHP) storage. • the load factor of the heat demand profile In addition, unscheduled maintenance operations can occur Heat networks are designed to connect a number of point during periods of peak heat demand. For this reason, it is loads. The key factor that determines whether a scheme is essential to ensure that standby plant is available . economic is the relationship between the income from heat sales provided by these point loads and the cost of the heat C.3 The market price of heat network installation. Typical useful point loads for heat The price of heat can be considered as comprising two networks include hospitals, universities, prisons, leisure elements: centres with swimming pools, large hotel facilities, high-density housing estates and industrial or commercial heat loads. • a fixed annual cost encompassing maintenance and finance charges Increasing distance from the heat source to these point loads • a variable cost element that changes with the (or between point loads) corresponds to a rising level of price of the particular fuel used in the scheme investment in the heat network infrastructure for transferring heat, and hence decreases overall economic viability. For a Experience shows that when a district heating network is in given set of heat loads within a defined geographical area, this place, the running costs associated with supplying heat to leads to a number of optimisations that need to be carried out customers on a network are considerably lower than individual in order to be able to accurately define the least-cost whole life boiler solutions offering an equivalent level of service delivery. option for a heat network. In addition, it is a relatively simple matter, once a district Firstly, an optimal route for the network that minimises the heating network is in place, to change the centralised heating overall network length and the civil costs of installation would plant to an alternative fuel, or a different technology. This have to be identified and, secondly, a pipe-sizing optimisation flexibility allows for new developments in technologies and fuel is necessary in order to find the best balance between higher supply infrastructure to be adopted with minimal disruption, initial capital costs for larger pipes and lower pumping (and and reduces the risks associated with future opportunity costs. other operational) costs, or vice versa. C.4 Biomass heating and co-generation C.2 Combined heat and power (CHP) Biomass fuels can be used in heating applications in a schemes number of ways. The need for the storage or treatment of In an energy centre for a district heating scheme, it is often biomass material, however, means this technology is generally economically beneficial to install a combined heat and power used in areas where space is not at a premium. unit in addition to boilers. CHP units generate electricity and The use of biomass can be environmentally and economically heat simultaneously and can be based on a variety of prime beneficial for communities, such as in the Holsworthy scheme movers, including steam turbines supplied from biomass-fired in Devon (see case studies in Appendix G). In this example, boilers and spark-ignition or compression-ignition engines the waste products used in the production of biogas (cattle, supplied from methane gas from an anaerobic digestion plant. pig and poultry manure, and food waste) are collected from

GENERIC RESOURCE OPPORTUNITIES March 2004 57 C appendix C

farmers within a radius around the energy centre of C.5 Biomass requirements for district approximately 10 km and then converted to useful energy. heating The scheme is now generating electricity and the ultimate aim This section addresses the potential for the use of biomass as is to supply low cost heat from the plant via a district heating an energy resource in district heating applications in NI. network to the community of Holsworthy. As the potential locations of biomass projects are quite Torridge District Council (TDC) has been involved with the diverse, one site per county has been identified at random, for project as administrators of an EU grant and the Council illustrative purposes only. recognises the social, economic and environmental benefits that developing the DH network will bring to Holsworthy. TDC The heat loads of postcode sectors have been estimated on is keen to support the implementation of the DH network and the basis of census data. Figures for Belfast can be found on was successful in obtaining a grant to extend the original www.est.org.uk/communityenergy/information/ni.cfm. The network to include a number of council housing estates. equivalent quantities of biomass needed to supply this heat load have been estimated on the basis of the energy flows in the Holsworthy Biogas installation, a figure of around 5 tonnes of cattle slurry and food waste per MWh of heat load.

Table C.1: Site and postcode sector biomass requirement figures

Total heat Biomass Postcode Area load (MWh per requirement, thousand Site name sector (sq km) annum) tonnes p.a. Ringsend, Coleraine (Derry) BT514 149.8 30,086 159

Maguiresbridge, Fermanagh BT944 89 13,816 73

Stewartstown, Cookstown (Tyrone) BT715 93.1 24,233 128

Rasharkin, Ballymoney (Antrim) BT448 123.8 34,435 182

Keady, Armagh BT603 117 29,877 158

Ballyward, Banbridge (Down) BT319 122.5 30,979 163

The figures in Table C.1 show that with schemes of a comparable size to the Holsworthy installation, which has a biomass fuel input of approximately 140,000 tpa, a significant proportion of each postcode sector’s heat load could be met.

Whilst a these locations have been picked at random for illustrative purposes only, it is, as indicated above, the size, load factor and relative distance apart of point loads that in reality determines the economic feasibility of the project.

In addition, in the case of a biomass scheme, the availability, transport costs (or offset disposal costs in the case of slurries and food waste) and energy content of the fuel source must also be taken into account. In NI, however, the large potential availability of farm waste should be taken as a positive starting point for the development of anaerobic digestion plants feeding community heating.

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appendix D

Planning Consents D

This Appendix highlights the key aspects that planning and D.2 Onshore wind environmental legislation have in relation to the size and It is likely that any developer of a proposed onshore wind farm location of potential renewable energy projects. of more than two turbines and more than 5 MW of new generating capacity will be required to undertake an EIA. D.1 Offshore wind “The Planning Strategy for Rural Northern Ireland” published Any developer of a proposed offshore wind farm will be by the Planning Service’ in NI covers all of the towns, villages required to undertake a thorough assessment of its and countryside of NI outside Belfast (and adjoining built up environmental impact. The effect of each development will be areas) and Londonderry. It provides a comprehensive site specific and will only become apparent after detailed site framework for the preparation of development plans for investigations and following the completion of an individual District Council areas across the region. Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). PSU12 “Policy Document for Renewable Energy” which forms At present, planning consent is required for all developments part of “The Planning Strategy for Rural Northern Ireland” above the low water tide mark. Senior Counsel opinion is states that: awaited regarding whether planning consent is required beyond this for offshore developments. “All proposals for wind turbines or wind farms or groups of wind turbines (including any associated ancillary development) For all shore based development (such as the power cable will be assessed in respect of their implications for the visual, routes and electrical substation), normal planning requirements ecological and historic landscapes; the implications for apply. agriculture; and the safety and amenity of local residents. Conditions will be attached to permissions, as appropriate, to

1 http://www.planningni.gov.uk/areaplans_policy/strategies/psrni/psrni.htm

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www.actionrenewables.org safeguard particular interests. Permission will not be granted D.4 Wastes to turbine developments within, or in any location, where they A combustion process burning a waste with an input of over 3 would have a seriously detrimental impact on the amenity of MWth would be subject to the IPPC regulations. An EIA is an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty or any area designated required for “a development which is likely to have significant for its conservation, scientific, archaeological or historic effects on the environment by virtue of factors such as its interest”. nature, size or location”. For any plant covering an area of over Designated sites in NI have the following classifications: 0.5 ha an EIA would be at the discretion of the Local Authority.

i Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) As the EfW plant suggested in Belfast would be rated at about ii Country Park and Countryside Centre (CP and CC) 80 MWth, this would be subject to IPPC regulations by nature iii Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) of both its fuel and its thermal rating. An EIA would also be iv Nature Reserve (NR) required. Many similar EfW plants are successfully operating in v Marine Nature Reserve (MNR) the UK, fitted with the appropriate emissions abatement vi Special Area of Conservation (SAC) equipment. vii Special Protection Area (SPA) Generation plants in this study involving landfill gas, sewage viii Ramsar sites gas and anaerobic digestion of farm wastes are all likely to be ix Built Heritage sites less than 20 MWth in size. x Archaeological and Historic Monument sites It is likely that all landfill gas combustion plants will be located Their locations in Northern Ireland can be found on the on landfill sites of sufficient size to require IPPC authorisation. Environment and Heritage website2. The landfill gas generation plant will also require an IPPC permit either separately or as part of the larger installation D.3 Biomass depending on the operator. A thermal power plant using biomass specifically harvested for Sewage gas installations will require an IPPC authorization. the purpose of energy production (and not, therefore, defined as a “waste”) is only subject to the Integrated Pollution Plants carrying out the anaerobic digestion of farm wastes Prevention and Control (IPPC) Regulations if it has a rating mixed with food wastes would have to exceed a capacity of 10 exceeding 50 MWth. tonnes of waste per day before requiring an IPPC authorisation. The biomass fired plants in this study are unlikely to have a rating of more than about 20 MWth. Schemes of this size do not require an IPPC consent or District Council permit, but do require planning permission. The requirement for an environmental impact assessment (EIA) is at the discretion of the District Council, depending on site sensitivities.

Similar schemes to the biomass technologies discussed in this report have been operating in the UK. With appropriate emissions abatement equipment, it is not envisaged that there would be a problem with the granting of planning permission for such schemes.

2 http://www.ehsni.gov.uk/hatural/designated/area_interest.shtml

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appendix E

Case Studies E

Case Study 1 Onshore Wind

Case Study 2 Poultry Litter

Case Study 3 Short rotation willow coppice

Case Study 4 Wood residues

Case Study 5 Straw

Case Study 6 Energy from Waste

Case Study 7 Agricultural wastes

Case Study 8 Landfill Gas

Case Study 9 Hydro-electric

Case Study 10 Sewage Sludge

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CASE STUDY ONE CASE STUDY TWO Onshore Wind Poultry Litter

Baywind Energy Co-operative is based in Barrow-in- The Energy Power Resources power plant at Furness in Cumbria, and operates two community Westfield, Scotland, combusts poultry litter to generate owned wind farms, both located in Cumbria, with an up to 10 MW of electricity. installed capacity of 3.1 MW. The wind farms sell electricity through NFFO-3 contracts, and are About 110,000 tonnes of chicken litter is delivered by maintained by a locally based company who is sub- truck from a radius of around 50 km. contracted to the Scandinavian wind turbine manufacturer who have provided a warranty on the The plant burns the chicken litter in a fluidised-bed wind farms for a period of 10 years. combustor. This uses sand, heated to 850°C and kept The Harlock Hill windfarm (five turbines of 2.5 MW total in a state resembling a bubbling liquid by a installed capacity) is located at Pennington and has continuous stream of hot combustion air blown operated since 1997. The windfarm is situated near through it from below. The waste is maintained at an Ulverston in Cumbria, on an open stretch of windswept elevated temperature (above 850°C) for at least two farmland overlooking Morecambe Bay. seconds to ensure complete combustion. In 1998/99 the Cooperative raised the finance to buy one turbine (of four, each rated at 600 kWe) at the 11,000 tonnes of ash are produced per year which is Haverigg II wind farm site. Haverigg II is an extension rich in nutrients and has been sold to a fertilizer to one of the first wind power developments in the UK. manufacturer. It is situated on a disused airfield on low lying coastal land near Millom in Cumbria. The plant was commissioned in 2000, and was Baywind Energy Co-operative Ltd itself is an Industrial originally managed under a long-term operation and & Provident Society and was formed in 1996. These maintenance contract by Matsui-Babcock. two projects enabled a community in Cumbria to invest in local wind turbines, with a board of directors of The plant sells electricity under an SRO-1 Contract. It which a majority are members of the local community. has also benefited from EC funding, which was The land at both sites continues to be used for grazing originally allocated to a demonstration project but and silage, and the local land owner is paid a land which was transferred to the Fife plant when it was rental based on the electricity production of the almost complete. turbines. Baywind was funded in its initial stages by the DTI. It Emissions are controlled by injecting lime into the flue raised additional funds for the projects by inviting the gases after combustion. Bag filters remove general public to buy shares in the project. Preference particulates. The Scottish Executive state that is shown for local investors so that the community can emissions from the plant are less than half those set share some of the economic benefits from their local by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency. wind farm. Baywind state that 43% of existing Baywind shareholders live either in Cumbria or Contact: www.eprl.co.uk/west1.htm Lancaster, with a majority of the remainder being from the Northwest Region. Baywind's aim is to promote the generation of renewable energy and energy conservation. As a condition for obtaining planning consent for the windfarm at Harlock Hill, Baywind agreed to set up a trust fund to provide for energy saving measures for residents in the area of the site, funded by 0.5% of the income from the windfarm. Contact: www.baywind.co.uk/index.htm

GENERIC RESOURCE OPPORTUNITIES March 2004 63 E appendix E

CASE STUDY THREE CASE STUDY FOUR Short rotation willow coppice Wood Residues

The Brook Hall Estate CHP plant in County Trinity Special School in the NE of England uses a Londonderry, generates 100 kW of electricity and converted coal boiler to burn wood pellets. supplies space heating and district hot water for the Estate houses and the drying floors for both the wood The wood pellets are supplied by Premier, part of the chips and the Estate’s grain harvest. Durham County Waste Management group. The wood pellets are made from clean recycled wood, which The willow is grown at the site on 42 ha of land, of would otherwise be sent to landfill. The wood is which 80% is set-aside land. It is harvested on a chipped, and the chips are used in chipboard three-year cycle (14ha annually) then chipped and manufacture. The sawdust left over is used to make bulk dried to produce 500 tonnes of wood chip. This is the wood pellets. fed into a pressurised gasifier where it is gasified at 1200°C. The two boilers are “Beeston Robin Hood Seniors” rated at 195 kW. Operationally, the wood pellets are 150 kW of heat, in the form of hot water from the reported to have advantages over coal. As the wood cooling and exhaust systems, is used for the space pellets are less abrasive than coal, there is less wear heating and district hot water for the Estate houses and tear, they also produce less ash and pellets are and the drying floors. A further 40 kW of heat is easier to ignite. No new stoker equipment is required. recovered from the condenser, gasifier and CHP unit to Durham County Council were planning to convert 3 supplement the drying of the wood chips and grain. more schools solid fuel boilers to pellet fuel in 2003. The project was commissioned in 1997. The plant is operated by the Rural Generation Contact: Jeff Kirton, Energy Manager, Company. Durham County Council [email protected] The project cost £138,000 and received £69,000 of European Regional Development Funding. Electricity generated by the 100 kWe unit is sold to NIE Power Procurement Business under a NI-NFFO2 contract. No planning permission was required, and there were no environmental consents required as the project has a thermal output of less than 20 MWth.

Contact: Rural Generation Ltd, Brook Hall Estate, 65- 67 Culmore Road, Londonderry, BT48 8JE. Tele: 028 7135 8215. or: www.farm2000.co.uk

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CASE STUDY FIVE CASE STUDY SIX Straw Energy from Waste

In 1999 a straw-fired heating plant was installed by a The South East London Combined Heat and Power group of Danish farmers. The system consists of an Project (SELCHP) is a refuse incineration facility in SE 800 kW biomass-fired heating boiler and a district London, generating around 30 MW of electricity for heating network that distributes heat to 70 households export, and recyclable by-products for a range of and local municipal facilities, including the local applications including road building. The plant burns primary school, sports centre and rest home for the 420,000 tonnes of household waste per year, delivered elderly. directly to the plant by refuse collection vehicles. There is approximately 60 MW (thermal) available for Contact: www.farm2000.co.uk district heating. Talks are in progress with the London Borough of Southward for supplying district heating to This case study was written from extracts of a brochure the local housing. written by ETSU, and can be found on www.caddet- re.org, Technical Brochure No. 151. The plant uses a “mass-burn” process to incinerate the waste, and is strictly controlled under conditions and at temperatures where potentially harmful chemicals are destroyed. The residues and flue gases are treated to ensure that potential pollutants, particularly those which can become airborne, are captured and do not present any significant environmental impact.

Sound emissions are also tightly controlled and regulated such that there is no increase in background noise in the immediate area. The plant is designed to prevent any odours escaping, and the tipping hall and storage area are maintained at negative pressure to achieve this.

Ferrous and non-ferrous metals are recovered and recycled. The ash left at the end of combustion process can be recycled. It has been used as a secondary aggregate in the building of car parks, bicycle parks and roads.

The plant was commissioned in 1993.

The project is a partnership between public and private sectors, and the boroughs of Lewisham and Greenwich have a shareholder interest in the plant. The plant is owned and operated by a French company, Onyx, financed by long-term loans.

Contact: www.selchp.com

GENERIC RESOURCE OPPORTUNITIES March 2004 65 E appendix E

CASE STUDY SEVEN CASE STUDY EIGHT Agricultural wastes Landfill Gas

The Holsworthy Biogas plant in North Devon, takes Winterton Landfill Site, in Humberside, currently cattle and pig slurry from around 30 farms and uses it receives 250,000 tonnes/year of waste. Landfill gas is to generate 2.1 MW of electricity. The cow dung is extracted via a series of vertical wells and a network mixed with food waste, and processed in an anaerobic of pipes, laid in clay lined cells of the landfill. The gas digester, fermented for three weeks, and produces is de-watered and filtered, then fed into 1 MW gas methane rich gas. This biogas is stored on site and engines. combusted in spark ignition engines. The waste heat is used to maintain the temperature in the digesters, The gas produced is around 45 – 52% methane, and and it is planned to use some of the waste heat in a all of it is currently used in the power plant. district heating scheme. The electricity is exported to the grid and sold under a There is a gate fee charged for food waste, which is NFFO-3 contract. obtained from organic food processors in the South West of England. The slurry comes from farms within a Contact: This case study is based on extracts from a 10 km radius. It is treated and returned to the farms as publication by ETSU, found on www.caddet-re.org.uk, a bio-fertiliser, with no charge to either party. further details can be obtained from their Technical The plant was commissioned in 2002. Brochure No. 98.

The plant was built by the German company Farmatic Biotech Energy AG which also holds shares in the Holsworthy Biogas Project. The remaining shares will be held by the local community and supplying farmers. Farmatic will assist in the operation of the plant.

The plant was built with the aid of European Funding Assistance so providing around 50% of the development cost. There is a gate fee charged for food waste. The plant uses some electricity on site, the remainder is sold under a NFFO-4 contract.

The plant treats 320 tonnes of slurry and 80 tonnes of food waste per day. The mixed waste is first pasteurised (heated to 70°C for one hour) to ensure that it is safe to be spread on the land at the end of the process. It is then maintained at 37°C for 20 days, during which time methane is generated. The biogas released by the digestion process is methane gas. It is initially cleaned in a de-sulphurisation unit and then stored in a gas holder above the final storage tank. The digestate (the digested waste mixture) is eventually returned to the supplying farmers as a valuable bio-fertiliser.

The plant will operate its own lorries, transporting the bio-fertiliser to the supplying farms and then returning with animal manure. The new lorries are specially designed for the task. Contact: http://www.holsworthybiogas.co.uk/

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CASE STUDY NINE CASE STUDY TEN Hydro-electric Sewage Sludge

At Barton Locks on the Manchester Ship Canal, a 600 The Regional Sludge Treatment Centre in the North kWe hydro-electric installation has been installed in an East of England is a combined heat and power existing, disused, pumphouse. The turbine operates installation, drying 75,000 tonnes dry solids (tds) of within a water level regime determined by the working sludge per year. It is owned and operated by shipping lock. Northumbrian Water Ltd.

The installation draws water from a pond upstream of Two gas turbines generate around 10 MW electricity the locks into a 3 m diameter penstock via an for export, and the waste heat is used in the sludge automatic control gate to the turbine, then discharged drying plant. downstream to the downstream pond. The plant was required by the EU Waste Water The installation uses a horizontal, semi-Kaplan hydro Directive which calls for the cessation of dumping raw turbine, and generates once the water level rises into sewage at sea. Primary and secondary sludge is an acceptable operating range. delivered by road and by sea to the plant, from all over the NE of England. The turbine was designed by Newmills Hydro, who are based in Ballycarry, Co Antrim, and it was Phase One, built to process up to 50,000 tds/a of manufactured at Newmills works. mainly primary sludge, was commissioned in 1999. The predicted increase in sludge volumes, coupled The station opened in 1994 and operates under a with the requirement to include a greater proportion of NFFO contract, producing a maximum of 660 kW secondary sludges, required the drying plant to be electricity for export. more than doubled in size. Its present capacity is 75,000 tds/a.

The plant dries the raw, undigested, sludge, and Contact: Newmills Hydro, Mill Lane, Island Road, produces pellets of dry material. Ballycarry, Co Antrim, BT38 9JW www.newmillshydro.freeserve.co.uk Contact: www.nwl.co.uk

This case study is based on extracts from a publication by NEF Renewable, found at www.greenergy.org.uk, further details can be obtained from their Technical Brochure No. BMC54.

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appendix F

Map showing the Rural Districts of F Northern Ireland

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appendix G

Bibliography G

APPENDIX G - BIBLIOGRAPHY vii. “The Potential for the use of Marine Current Energy in Northern Ireland”, June 2003, for DTI/ DETI/ NIE, Whittaker, Fraenkel, Bell, Lugg i. DETI and Department of Public Enterprise, “Assessment of Offshore Wind Energy Resources in viii. The Rural Development Regulation Plan the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland” (Accompanying Measures) for Northern Ireland 2000- 2006. ii. ETSU for DTI, “New and Renewable Energy: Prospects in the UK for the 21st Century: Supporting ix. “Tidal Stream Energy Review”, ETSU 1993, Analysis”, March 1999. T/05/00155/REP

iii. “Industrial, Commercial, Waste Industry and Municipal x. Waste Management Strategy, Northern Ireland” Waste Arisings Survey for Northern Ireland”, for the (undated). year 1999 to 2000 August 2001, DoE

xi. Williams, 2001, “Energy from spent mushroom iv. “Landfill Gas Development Guidelines”, ETSU for the compost” DTI, Nov 1996

Websites v. “Renewable Energy in the Millennium, the NI www.arc21.com Potential”, ETSU for NIE and DED, June 1999. www.swampni.org.uk www.northwestwasteplan.org.uk vi. “Renewable Energy Resources in Northern Ireland”, PB Power 2002 for NIE and DETI.

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appendix H

List of Consultees H

i Action Renewables xi Forest Service, Executive Agency within the Department of Agriculture for Northern Ireland ii Balcas Timber xii Irvine Sawmill, Omagh iii Canavan Associates Ltd; Seamus Canavan xiii Moy Park Foods; David Graham and Tom McKeown iv DARD; Alistair Carson, Malcolm Dawson, Peter Frost, Mairead Kilpatrick, Linda Meldrum xiv REA Sawmills, Crumlin

v DETI; David Stanley xv Rural Generation Limited; Michael Doran

vi Diamond Sawmill, Coleraine xvi The Planning Service

vii Drenagh Sawmill, Limavady xvii Water Service; Harvey Brunker

viii Energy First; Michele Smyth

ix Farmatic Biotech Energy AG; Jergen Fink

x Fivemiletown Biogas Project; William Waterson

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GENERIC RESOURCE OPPORTUNITIES March 2004 Action Renewables Woodchester House, 50 Newforge Lane, Belfast, BT9 5NW

A joint initiative between