Stream BioEnergy to build two anaerobic digestion plants by 2017

Ireland-based manufacturer Stream BioEnergy will build two identical anaerobic digestion (AD) plants in Cork and Dublin by 2017.

The AD firm has secured planning permission for both plants. The facilities worth, €50m, will create 100 jobs, according to the company.

The plants will convert food waste into fertilisers and biogas, which will generate electricity and heat.

Both developments will be identical in design and the first facility will be built at a site in Finglas, Dublin. "Construction should get underway on that one in the first half of 2016 and we hope it will be completed by mid-2017," Stream BioEnergy's development manager, Morgan Burke, told the Irish Examiner.

Burke said he expected the site at Cork to be up and running by the end of 2017.

Each of the plants will be designed to handle 90,000 tonnes of waste per year. "Both of the facilities will deliver safer and cleaner energy to replace fossil fuels and will provide much-needed capacity to treat the growing volumes of separately collected organic wastes," Burke told the paper.

According to the media outlet, BioEnergy plans to capitalise on the introduction of legislation that will ensure, from the end of next year, that the majority of Irish households use brown bins to recycle food waste.

BioEnergy will mainly source organic waste from households, restaurants and hotels.