This article is from page 38 of the 2008-06-24 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 38 JPG
THE potential of Clare as a gen- erator of wood energy was further TORO) STARVE oLO MNO OURS ( oto) GEAWA LOO MNO omE- Date nouncement by Teagasc that Irish farm forestry has the potential to
replace a huge 58 million litres of home heating oil per annum.
The new Teagasc research indicates that private investment in forestry provides a massive opportunity for the wood energy sector in Ireland. Thinnings from privately-owned for-
ests could help to reduce the depend- ence of domestic and commercial consumers on oil for their heating needs.
With nearly 60,000 hectares of Irish forestry now more than 15 years of age, research indicates that
two-thirds of these plantations are ready for thinning. Annual output from the private sector has the po- tential to rise from its current level of just 100,000 cubic metres per an- num, up to 1.1 million cubic metres per annum by 2015.
‘Because of the nature and composi- tion of farmer-owned plantations,the wood energy market offers farmers the opportunity to sell their produce to new and growing markets, partic- ularly in areas where no market op- portunities previously existed,” said Teagasc forestry researcher Niall Sek IML (cle) .@
“This also offers farmers the op- portunity to have their plantations thinned. In order to realise this po- tential it is crucial that farmers thin plantations where appropriate.”
Private planting of forests increased in the 1990s and these are now ma- turing for harvest. It is anticipated that half of the landowners will opt to thin, which could lift the annual output to 550,000 cubic metres per annum by 2015.
A high percentage of this thinning volume – 340,000 cubic metres – has the potential to supply the wood en- ergy market. This energy resource is equivalent to 2.24 million giga joules, or 58 million litres of home terlmusremeyee
That is enough energy to heat 58,000 houses based on an average size house using 1,000 litres of home heating oil each year.
New research, sponsored by CO- FORD and presented last week at Bioenergy ‘08 in Athenry, will in- vestigate the structures to quantify, locate and market timber for forest owners. It is planned to develop a framework for the optimal quanti- fication of the wood resources from farm forests using clustering tech- niques.
Clare, alongside Donegal, has al- ready started to use the produce of first thinning to supply the wood en- ergy market for local and municipal heating requirements.