Wood waste from forests, straw and industry could turn into a €1 billion business if properly utilised as energy. Such an enterprise could employ 30,000 people by the year 2020, delegates to a conference in Wexford heard yesterday.
Mr Paul Kellett, technical manager of the Renewable Energy Information Office, said Ireland had the potential to develop an indigenous fuel supply from forestry and wood industry waste for domestic, industrial and export markets.
"Wood fuel, and in particular wood pellets and wood chips, are highly efficient sources of clean, renewable energy," he said, adding that the first wood-pellet plant on the island would begin production in Co Fermanagh next year.
"Pellets are already available in the Irish marketplace, and we believe that wood could play a vital role in diversifying Ireland's future energy mix," he said.
Ireland was a prime potential market for wood energy technology providers who were actively seeking partnerships with Irish companies to supply wood stoves, boilers and larger-scale power plants.
"Despite the fact that Ireland has the best growing conditions for a range of tree species in Europe, we have been slow to develop the potential in terms of energy production. However, that is about to change," said Mr Kellett.
"In the future, it is possible that every town in Ireland could have a wood power plant, managed and maintained with local labour and powered by locally-grown wood and locally-produced wood pellets and chips," he said.
"The development of a wood energy industry could play a significant role in rural regeneration," he added.
Mr Joe O'Carroll, operations manager with Coford, the National Council for Forest Research, said utilising all available wood biomass in Ireland could immediately generate 50 megawatts of energy output.
"This potential rises rapidly so that, by 2010, almost 150 megawatts could be produced by the many forms of wood biomass. There is huge market potential for convenient, refined fuels such as pellets," he added.
"Wood in this form has many advantages in that it is more compact, clean, easy to store and has a very high energy content," he said.
The conference, "White Coal Green Energy - Wood Energy 2003", continues today.