Potentials for electricity production from wood in Ireland

Greenhouse gas emissions in Ireland are expected to be 25% higher in 2010 as compared to 1990, whereas Irelandʹs Kyoto commitment is a maximum rise of 13%. One of the measure taken to reduce this gap (about 7 Mtonne CO2-eq.) could be the development of biomass based electricity production. This study focusses on various biomass resources and a range of conversion technologies, in order to select promising routes for biomass based electricity in the short term. This article extends previous analyses by: (i) including the use of forest residues and sawmill residues as potential biofuels; (ii) considering both co-firing in retrofitted existing peat stations and co-firing in the new to be built Europeat power plant; and (iii) including other promising conversion technologies to generate electricity from biomass. Although the potential for energy crops in Ireland could be large, their cost is relatively high, 4.7–8.2