Ladies and gentlemen,
It gives me great pleasure to be with you in New Ross today on what we can certainly describe as an historic occasion. In commencing construction of this biofuel facility, Green Biofuels Ireland is set to become one of the first large scale biofuel producers in Ireland. This is a welcome development and signals an important milestone in the development of Ireland’s emerging biofuels market.
Green Biofuels Ireland has travelled a long and sometimes difficult road to get to this point today and I applaud them for their vision and tenacity in pursuing this project.
I understand that it is planned to have this plant in production from mid-2008 and that it will produce 34 million litres of biodiesel per annum. The feedstock for the plant includes recovered vegetable oil, animal fats and rapeseed oil and the majority of these feedstocks will be provided by the shareholders of the project. Those shareholders include existing RVO handlers such as Bolton Oil, Castledermot and M & T Oil, Dublin as well as the Wexford Farmer’s Co-op, which has 4,000 farmer shareholders. Green Biofuels Ireland is to be applauded for developing such strategic structures, which will help to ensure continuity of feedstock supply for the plant. The structuring of the supply chain will also provide significant new growing opportunities for farmers in the South East and a new outlet for the processing of waste vegetable oil.
Wexford is no stranger to biofuel production and the early pioneers of biofuels development in Ireland are based here. In the last two years, the Government has introduced a range of supports and new policies which are designed to support the development of a biofuels sector in Ireland and which are facilitating developments such as that which we see here today.
Interest in biofuels has grown exponentially in the last number of years. In 2005, when I launched a pilot biofuels Mineral Oil Tax relief scheme, a total of 34 applicants applied. Eight projects emerged from the pilot scheme, and are placing 16m litres of biofuels being placed on the Irish market over the two-year period of the programme.
Building on the success of the pilot programme, I put in place a further five year excise relief package costing in excess of €200m, which will see Ireland exceed 2% market penetration of biofuels by 2008. The scheme attracted 102 applications and sixteen biofuels projects were awarded excise relief from this process. Green Biofuels Ireland was one of the successful applicants in the category for biofuels complying with diesel standard EN590. As a result of this scheme, biofuels are already being mainstreamed in blends of up to 5% at existing petrol and diesel pumps, and higher blends are being sold to identified vehicle fleets. I look forward to seeing Green Biofuels Ireland join with the other projects under Scheme II in delivering biofuels into Ireland’s fuel chain.
The Government has also introduced a 50% VRT relief on Flexible Fuel Vehicles, which are capable of running on blends of up to 85% ethanol in petrol. These vehicles are now available in Ireland from a number of car manufacturers. The National Climate Change Strategy further commits to a re-alignment of VRT and Motor Tax to favour more energy efficient cars.
The growing interest in biofuels development in Ireland, coupled with increasing car ownership levels and emissions from the transport sector, has convinced me of the need for longer-term measures to mainstream biofuels into Ireland’s transport chain.
In February therefore, I announced that the Government would introduce a biofuels obligation in 2009, which will deliver targets of 5.75% market penetration in 2010 and 10% in 2020. The obligation will require fuel suppliers to ensure that biofuels represent a certain proportion of their fuel sales in a given period. This policy instrument, is the preferred option of nine other Member States in Europe. Coupled with the ambitious targets we have established, the obligation will provide long-term certainty in the market and significant further scope for the agricultural sector to become involved in biofuels production. The obligation will position companies such as Green Biofuels Ireland and their shareholder suppliers, to capitalise on a very significant market opportunity for biofuels.
My Department will shortly be launching a consultation process on the implementation of the biofuels obligation and it is my aim to involve all stakeholders in detailed discussions on how the obligation might be designed to ensure optimum benefit and results.
In tandem with these developments the Bioenergy Action Plan commits to the introduction of biofuels in blends of up to 5% in existing Local Authority and CIE fleets and in the range of 30% in new vehicle purchases. The Department of Transport is also funding specific biofuels initiatives and will publish a Sustainable Transport Action Plan later in 2007.
The Bioenergy Action Plan commits to a series of actions designed to stimulate the development of Ireland’s bioenergy resources across the supply chain. New incentives for growing and harvesting of energy crops will provide an opportunity for farmers to become involved in the emerging biofuels and bioenergy market. This development, coupled with the demanding new targets, biofuels obligation and public sector commitments, are presenting tangible opportunities for growers and processors to become involved in biofuels production and processing.
Green Biofuels Ireland have already taken critical steps towards entering the Irish and UK biofuels market and are to be commended for the foresight and ambition in moving ahead with this project.
I look forward to the full commissioning of this plant and believe that this development, along with the majority of projects under the Biofuels Mineral Oil Tax Relief schemes, and the Biofuels Obligation, will deliver benefits to rural communities across Ireland, and assist us in moving to a cleaner, greener transport market.
ENDS