The 11th National BioEnergy Conference is being held by the Irish Bioenergy Association on Thursday 16th February at the Louis Fitzgerald Hotel, Dublin. Click here for more information.

On Wednesday 7^th December 2011 Upperlands Community Development Ltd (UCDL) played host to a European delegation of partners from the ‘SMALLEST’ project. Upperlands was one of only three schemes selected to showcase outstanding ways in which renewable energy is being used by rural organisations in Northern Ireland.

‘SMALLEST’ (Solutions for Microgeneration that ALLow Energy Saving Technologies) is a European funded Interreg project offering free professional advice, training and support services to rural communities interested in undertaking renewable energy projects. The project runs until June 2012 across all Northern Periphery Programme (NPP) partner regions including; Northern Ireland, Finland, Iceland, the Faroe Islands, the Shetland Islands, Scotland and Sweden.

UCDL is currently participating in the ‘SMALLEST’ project which is run locally by Action Renewables and the University of Ulster (Coleraine). Together these organisations are helping UCDL to further develop their hydro-electric generation scheme, which has been running since 1999 and is one of a few community businesses which generate revenues in such a novel way. The money generated has also been used for social benefit including the creation of a community centre, business and retail units, a post office. In addition UCDL acts as a conduit for a range of government services aimed at those most at risk within the Upperlands community and have been able to set up a health and wellbeing club for senior citizens.

UCDL director, Eric Glasgow comments, “The ‘SMALLEST’ project has been great for us and has given us the opportunity to work with Action Renewables and the University of Ulster. They are helping us to develop our hydro-electric scheme by exploring the benefits of upgrading and improving the efficiency of our existing turbine and the feasibility of installing a second turbine. As a community we are committed to using renewable energy and we are confident that our hydro-electric project can produce much greater revenues which together with our rental earnings, can provide a very significant financial resource for the Upperlands community.

Terry Waugh, Deputy Director, Action Renewables adds: “The UCDL hydro-electric generation scheme was chosen to showcase to representatives from our ‘SMALLEST’ project partner regions because it is a good example of how a local rural community has significantly benefited from the implementation of renewable energy. We are delighted to be working with UCDL to give them guidance and assistance. In the past, organisations in rural communities have found it difficult to find the help needed to implement renewable energy generation projects but the ‘SMALLEST’ project is addressing these issues and providing training to help make renewable energy solutions more accessible to all parts of the community – no matter how remote” adds Terry.

As part of their trip to Northern Ireland the ‘SMALLEST’ project partners also visited Orchard Acre Farm in Irvinestown which has installed biomass and SWH systems and the combined heat and power (CHP) plant at Balcas in Enniskillen, which is used to manufacture ‘brites’ wood pellets.

Action Renewables is assisting the Government of Azerbaijan to develop an energy strategy without oil following the company’s participation in an Invest NI organised visit to a UN agency in Vienna.  Pictured above with Michael Doran, Managing Director of Action Renewables is Tracy Meharg, Managing Director of Innovation and Capability Development, Invest NI. 

Azerbaijan, an independent republic in the Caucasus, intends to develop an energy strategy without oil. The project follows the organisation’s participation in an Invest Northern Ireland organised visit to a UN agency in Vienna, for local companies specialising in renewable energy.

Following the visit, in 2010, Action Renewables identified an opportunity from the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) to provide its expertise to authorities in Azerbaijan seeking to develop energy resources to reduce the nation’s dependence on oil.

The contract in Azerbaijan was announced by Michael Doran, Managing Director of Action Renewables, and welcomed by Tracy Meharg, Invest NI’s Managing Director of Innovation and Capability Development.

Tracy Meharg said: “Winning this important tender in Eurasia is an immensely encouraging development for Action Renewables, Invest NI’s focus on alternative energy technologies and the wider Northern Ireland economy. It shows that Northern Ireland has extensive knowledge and experience in renewables, a global industry of enormous potential and one in which we have been investing substantial resources to encourage and assist companies here to exploit the opportunities.

“Our technology and trade teams are working with a number of local companies, both large and small and across a broad range of industrial sectors, to enable them to harness the global business potential of renewable energy projects. Our support has already included participation in major exhibitions and visits such as the delegation to Austria in which Action Renewables participated.��?

Mr Doran said: “Following our UNIDO presentation we were alerted about a tender to provide expertise in renewables to Azerbaijan. We subsequently teamed up with Ekot, a non-governmental agency there with experience in renewable energies, to respond to the tender and were successful.

“We will be organising a series of workshops in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, for senior officials from the Energy and Education ministries, other organisations and businesses there on renewable sources that could be harnessed to meet future energy requirements. They are looking at other sources such as wave and tidal, solar and wind to replace locally produced oil, which is expected to be exhausted in around 15 years.

“The workshops we are planning will cover renewable technologies and policy development. Our research indicates that there are a number of energy options that the authorities should be evaluating, especially solar thermal for water heating and photovoltaic for electricity generation.

“Other opportunities include on-shore wind and off-shore wave and tidal resources along the Caspian Sea coastline. The work will equip them to develop a meaningful strategy and an implementation plan.

“I am planning to follow up the workshops with a series of meetings with policy advisers and others involved in both policy development and implementation. Invest NI’s initiative has been immensely important and has led to our first significant project outside the island of Ireland,��? added Mr Doran.

Eurotech Renewables Ltd Wins Inaugural Geothermal Heating Installation of the Year Award 2011

Eurotech Renewables Limited was awarded the inaugural Brecan Mooney domestic geothermal heating installation of the year award 2011, for the innovative geothermal heating system it installed in Sean and Mary McDonald’s home in county Louth, at a prize giving ceremony in Limerick on Saturday 15 October 2011.

Geothermal energy is a renewable form of energy that uses heat stored in the ground to heat or cool buildings. The system installed in Sean and Mary McDonald’s home by Eurotech Renewables Limited uses an open loop system comprising 2 wells. The first well takes water from the ground which then passes through a heat exchanger connected to 2 ‘Ochsner’ heatpumps. Thermal energy is extracted from the groundwater for the purposes of heating the house. A third heatpump extracts heat from the bathroom exhaust air to heat the domestic hot water. The cooled water is then recharged back into the ground through the second well.

The standard of installation in this project is exceptional. All heating plant and ground wells are easily accessible for maintenance and observation. The heating pipework systems are fully insulated and all equipment is clearly labelled. Operating instructions and installation manuals provide clear guidance on system use. The operation of the heating system is very efficient, resulting in a low energy, low cost system for the owners. The primary energy operational rating of this house is 88kWhrs/m² each year, placing it at B1 on a building energy rating scale. The installation is saving 8,053kgs of CO₂ emissions per annum when compared to a heating system that uses oil fired heating. Analysis of the system’s energy performance characteristics indicates that the cost of heating the house is at least one quarter of that which would have arisen from using an oil fired boiler.

The home owners are delighted with the clean, quiet and effective operation of their geothermal heating system. They are proud to be owners of a system that has low CO₂ emissions when compared to conventional systems. Sean and Mary McDonald both feel the comfort levels in this house are very much improved from any house they have ever lived in before. The family also feel the system has benefited the family’s health, as the relative humidity in the house is not affected by heating system.

Eurotech Renewables Ltd. is a sustainable heating solutions company focused on the effective use of renewable energy. Eurotech are dedicated to providing high quality renewable heating solutions, delivering lowest possible running costs to commercial, public and private sectors. Eurotech Renewables Ltd. are located at Rossullus Walk, Castleblayney, Co. Monaghan. Email info@eurotech-heating.com, Tel 00353(0)429749479, Contact: Gerard Duffy.

The Geothermal Installation of the Year award is named in memory of Brecan Mooney, who was active in the research and promotion of Geothermal Energy in Ireland up to his loss in November 2009. This award aims to continue Brecan’s work by showcasing excellence in geothermal systems design and installation in Ireland. In this, the inaugural year of the competition, the award is being presented for the best domestic heating system in operation since before Jan 2010, submitted for assessment in 2011.

Certificates of merit were also awarded to the following companies and home owners for installations that were of comparable quality and performance to the winner and deemed to be worthy of recognition and promotion:

• Wind Water Solar Energy Systems Ltd. for Jochen Gerz and Laurence Vanpoulle of ‘DerryQuin’, Co. Kerry,
• Green Renewable Heating Ltd. for Anne Murphy of ‘Castlequin’, Co Kerry, and
• Alternative Heating & Cooling Ltd. for Nick & Anne Ross of ‘Brook Lodge’ Co. Cork

For more information in relation to the Brecan Mooney Geothermal Installation of the Year Awards, the Geothermal Association of Ireland and geothermal energy please visit www.geothermalassociation.ie, or contact the GAI Secretariat, c/o Groundwater Section, Geological Survey of Ireland, Haddington Road, Dublin 4, tel: 01 678 2780/2784.