Watch: 2030 targets 'very challenging' - Gas Networks Ireland
The biomethane programme manager at Gas Networks Ireland, Padraig Fleming has said that reaching Ireland's 2030 climate targets will be "very challenging".
Speaking to Agriland at the Biomethane Day Ireland event earlier this week, sponsored by Nephin, he said that more supports are "probably" needed, and that the publication of the Renewable Heat Obligations (RHO) policies will "increase confidence".
Fleming said: "2030 is going to be a stretched target.
"If we look at this sector, or other sectors like renewable wind or solar, we often publish targets for those as well. We generally miss them by a little bit in time.
"I suspect in this case, the 2030 target is going to be very challenging to meet. It is possible all the time, but we would need things to move a little faster.
"Probably, we’d need something in the area of supports, hopefully the Renewable Heat Obligation will be published this year - that heads a bill. That will increase confidence.
"I think that we may miss the 2030, but probably a little bit later we should hit the target. 2030 is really going to be stretching at the moment," Fleming added.
Fleming outlined that biomethane is central to Gas Networks Ireland's decarbonisation journey, and that the company has a two-fold strategy to work towards this goal.
He said: "This is a state-owned asset, it’s owned by, effectively, the people of Ireland because we’re a semi-state body. It’s really important that we use that fully, but also it's got to recognise the fact that we need to decarbonise.
"First of all, the use of biomethane - which is the more immediate and one that can give the biggest amount of renewable gas in the short-term.
"The longer term play will be hydrogen. The reason it will take a little bit longer is there are lots of developments at the moment to get the cost of producing that down," Fleming explained.
The biomethane programme manager highlighted that Gas Networks Ireland offered contacts to "a number of new parties" to connect to the gas networks in order to produce biomethane.
However, he explained that the process saw "a bit of a slowdown" after the National Biomethane Strategy was published in May 2024.
He said: "Even though the strategy was published a year ago, there is a sense within the industry that there’s not enough urgency on the implementation of that strategy.
"We’re seeing, for example, delays in the RHO. People might be looking at us as well, in terms of we had a number of actions in that strategy which we have been actively working on with the regulator."
"We have reviewed our policy in relation to financial security, economic tests, and one of the most critical ones is reverse grid compression," Fleming added.
He also highlighted that Gas Networks Ireland are working with the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) to carry out policy reviews.
Fleming hopes that the revised policies will be published later this year.
