Abstract—Ireland’s low fuel diversity and reliance on imported fossil fuels, allied with the threat of impending fines based on ambitious EU and global targets, have renewed interest in sustainable, indigenously-derived biomass energy sources. Establishment of relevant lignocellulosic & grass biomass (LGB) fuels, together with appropriate conversion technologies, has been combined with policy analysis, external benchmarking of high achieving bioenergy markets and utilisation of established investment & policy appraisal techniques within targeted case studies, to identify the necessary criteria for policy design to successfully address short (2020), medium (2030) and long (2050) term targets. Analysis indicates that the immaturity of the Irish bioenergy market and rapidly approaching policy deadlines dictate the need for aggressive fiscal policy in the short term (10-15 years). However, benchmarked countries (such as Sweden) have shown that in the medium/long term, economic sustainability of LGB-derived energy requires a sophisticated regulatory and fiscal policy mix.
Index Terms—Biomass economics, renewable energy policy, renewable heat incentive, renewable heat policy.
The authors are with the Institute of Technology Carlow, Ireland (e-mail: martin.leahy@itcarlow.ie).
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Cite:Martin W. Leahy and Dan O’Sullivan, "Prospects for the Expanded Use of Lignocellulosic and Grass Biomass Fuels in Ireland’s Energy Mix — What Role for Policy?," Journal of Clean Energy Technologies vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 12-22, 2017.
