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A CIRCULAR SOLUTION FOR ENERGY RESILIENCE
Conclusion In Ireland anaerobic digestion is already proven in many operational facilities. There is a great flexibility to the technology that can adapt to different feedstocks and blends, turning waste into energy and capital. In many ways it is the purest representation of what the circular bioeconomy has to offer. The technology has been embedded at significant levels in multiple countries that have a supportive regulatory and fiscal environment. With a strong cooperative network and ethos in Ireland, and a planning and regulatory system that needs refinement rather than revolution, we are well placed, if not ideally and uniquely placed to capitalise on the potential of anaerobic digestion to provide a stable baseload of green energy.
The focus now must be on ensuring that the fiscal environment is encouraging, through increased RESS focus and by actively signalling intent to the market. As in every facet of energy generation, when the investor environment is facilitative, the market responds quickly. The RESS programme is nothing but positive, but it must support a diversity of technologies to truly ensure energy resilience that is green, sustainable and robust.
