Nephin Renewable Gas officially launched by Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Mr. Simon Coveney

Nephin Renewable Gas officially launched by Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Mr. Simon Coveney

Nephin Energy fuels Green Gas Revolution from Co. Tipperary

Tipperary, 1st February 2024: Nephin Energy announces the creation of its new business Nephin Renewable Gas (NRG). NRG is a newly established renewable energy company and has set up its operational headquarters in Tipperary Town.

The new office facility was officially opened today by the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Mr. Simon Coveney T.D.

NRG’s ambition is to become the leading producer and supplier of biomethane in Ireland.

Biomethane can play a major role in helping Ireland meet its climate ambitions by reducing emissions and supporting the decarbonization of otherwise hard to abate sectors such as manufacturing, transport and agriculture.

In addition to producing biomethane, hundreds of direct and indirect jobs will be created all around rural Ireland from the operation and maintenance of the AD plants. In addition to jobs, the AD sector can provide new reliable, long-term sources of income for farmers and associated agri industries.

Furthermore, NRG’s plants will enable farmers to reduce their own carbon footprint by allowing them to redirect their slurries and manures away from the land towards NRG’s biomethane plants. In turn this will help reduce the level of pollution entering Ireland’s streams and rivers.

As well as biomethane, NRG’s plants will generate clean indigenous biogenic carbon dioxide that can directly replace imported fossil derived CO2 in a variety of industrial applications. The plants will also produce low carbon biofertiliser which can be used as a direct replacement for imported fossil fuel derived fertiliser.

Tom O’Brien, Managing Director, Nephin Energy, said: "Today is a huge day for us as we announce the creation of our new business, Nephin Renewable Gas. We are delighted to be setting up our headquarters in Tipperary Town, in the heart of the Golden Vale. Our ambition is to become Ireland’s leading biomethane production company.

Nephin can realise this ambition by relying on its unique competitive advantages, such as building on our existing position as Ireland’s largest natural gas company, our access to the strong, long-term, patient capital of our owners CPP Investments, and utilising the 100+ years of combined RNG and agri experience of our first-class management team in NRG.

In building this business, we look forward to making a meaningful investment in Ireland’s rural economies and partnering with farmers to give them a real opportunity to benefit from the green energy transition.’’

Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Mr. Simon Coveney TD, said: "Companies like Nephin Renewable Gas, will play a pivotal role in helping Ireland achieve its Climate Action target of delivering 5.7 TWh of indigenously produced biomethane by 2030. Producing biomethane at scale in Ireland will make a significant contribution towards our ability to reduce climate emissions across hard to abate energy demand sectors, such as manufacturing and transport. Not only is it a positive development in terms of climate change and energy transition, Nephin Renewable Gas’ biomethane production will benefit rural communities across Ireland by generating jobs and creating new revenue streams for farmers.’’

Website: https://www.nephinrenewablegas.com/

Website: https://www.nephinenergy.com/

About Nephin Renewable Gas:

NRG is a newly-established renewable energy company. Our company’s offices are located at Tipperary Technology Park, Rosanna Road, Tipperary Town.

NRG is led by a team of experienced renewable gas executives, focused on developing biomethane production at scale in Ireland. NRG’s management team have over 100 years of collective experience in the renewable gas and agri industry sectors and have been directly involved in numerous renewable gas projects across Ireland, the UK and around the world.

NRG recognises the importance of local stakeholder engagement and actively seek to include the local community as early as possible in the development process.

An affiliate company to Nephin Energy, NRG’s ambition is to become Ireland’s leading biomethane development company, building on Nephin’s existing position as Ireland’s largest natural gas production company.

About Biomethane & AD:

Biomethane is a carbon-neutral renewable gas made from farm and food waste through a process known as anaerobic digestion (or AD) where the greenhouse gases created by agricultural and food waste emissions are captured and converted into energy. It is a proven technology and is used extensively throughout Europe. Biomethane plants are now operating across 24 different European countries. To date, Europe is home to nearly 20,000 biogas plants and over 1,300 biomethane plants.  But this is only the start, biomethane has been explicitly included in the EU’s most recent energy initiative, RePowerEU, which aims to increase Europe’s energy security in light of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. As part of the initiative, the EU is looking to achieve a greater than 10-fold increase in biomethane production over the next 6 years alone.

During this time of energy transition biomethane can provide the sort of “always on” baseload support that almost all other forms of renewable energy, such as wind and solar, cannot.

It can seamlessly replace natural gas on the network today and is fully compatible with existing appliances, technologies and vehicles. It can reduce emissions across key sectors of the economy including heating, industry, transport and power generation, while also supporting the decarbonisation of the agri-food sector. The European Commission has identified Ireland having the greatest potential per capita to development biomethane in the EU but Ireland is behind in terms of industry development.

The growth of a robust biomethane industry in Ireland could play an important role in Ireland’s energy security. One only has to look at Denmark to understand the potential. Denmark is producing up to 40% of their monthly gas requirement from renewable gas. Denmark’s goal, is to produce 100% of their gas consumption from biomethane by 2030.

For a better understanding of the benefits of renewable gas for farmers, local communities, Ireland Inc and the environment please check out NRG’s website:-  

https://www.nephinrenewablegas.com/

David Fitzgerald