Farmers are set to be paid for their slurry and manures under a new collection service proposed for Carlow. Greengate Biogas unveiled plans last week for a new anaerobic digestion (AD) plant in Powerstown, Carlow, which will require 700,000t of slurry and manures from local farmers to produce biomethane gas.

The company intends to build one of Europe’s largest AD plants, the first of seven planned in Ireland, on a 24ac site beside the Powerstown Civic Amenity Site, just south of Carlow town.

The plant will follow the Danish-style of AD, with the feedstock consisting solely of animal manures and slurries from pigs, beef cattle, dairy cows, chickens, horses and ducks.

The company stated that between 200 and 300 farmers will be needed to supply the plant under contract, with all material sourced within a 35km radius of the site.

Greengate maintains that interest from farmers is high, with letters of intent secured for up to 900,000t.

The feedstock will be supplied under contract. Farmers will be paid based on dry matter content, duration of supply and the price Greengate receives for biomethane.

The plant is expected to produce enough gas to power 22,700 homes.

However, if the domestic market does not develop as hoped, there is an option to export the gas to Europe.

The plant will operate on a just-in-time basis, likened to “a creamery for slurry.”

There could be up to 100 HGV loads in and out of the facility each day, with specialised tankers and bulk trailers arriving full of slurry and departing with digestate.

Given the plant’s location in the heart of tillage country, tillage farmers are expected to become major users of both liquid and solid digestate.

The planning application is expected to be submitted with Carlow County Council in quarter three 2025, and the plant could be operational by 2027.