Westmeath Community Development

Westmeath Community Development’s energy sub-committee will host a Seminar on Bioenergy and Rural Microgeneration on Thursday 16^th April in the Bloomfield House Hotel, Mullingar at 8 p.m. All interested parties in renewable energy and those looking at opportunities in this emerging industry are invited to attend. 

Last month, Minister Eamon Ryan  announced measures to encourage the on-site generation of electricity in homes and farms across Ireland.

Among the measures is a guaranteed price of 19 cent per kilowatt hour of electricity produced. This competitive feed-in tariff will apply to the first 4,000 micro-generation installations countrywide over the next three years. Eligible installations include small scale wind, photovoltaic, hydro and combined heat and power.

Traditionally, the electricity network was designed to accommodate the flow of electricity from large centralised plants to customers dispersed throughout the country. Micro-generation at local level now introduces two-way flows to the electricity system. Local generators will have the ability to be paid by the ESB for electricity that is surplus to their own requirements and export it back to the national grid.

WCDL’s energy study which was published last year and is available on their website at westcd.ie identified a number of potential areas that could be availed upon by residents from Westmeath who could be both potential producers and users. These areas will be evaluated at the seminar and any up to date research will be presented.

Vincent Nally, Board Member of Westmeath Community Development and Chair of the sub-committee that are hosting the conference said “The recent changes in energy prices has focused minds on the urgency to find more sustainable locally produced forms of energy.

Renewable energies to be discussed include, the growing of bio-energy crops such as oilseed rape, miscanthus and willow; the production potential of wind energy and hydro-power in addition to Co. Westmeath’s wood energy resource.  Global, EU and Irish energy trends will also be discussed in detail.”

Barry Caslin from Teagasc will speak on Rural Opportunities & Challenges in the Bioenergy Sector. This will cover Government Targets, Breakdown of the Transport, Electricity & Heating markets, Energy Crops, Supply Chains and Markets.

Steve Melling from Sustainable Energy Ireland (SEI) will give a presentation on the newly launched microgeneration scheme. Sustainable Energy Ireland (SEI) is Ireland’s national energy authority with a mission to promote and assist the development of sustainable energy. This encompasses environmentally and economically sustainable production, supply and use of energy, in support of Government policy, across all sectors of the economy. Its remit relates mainly to improving energy efficiency, advancing the development and competitive deployment of renewable sources of energy and combined heat and power, and reducing the environmental impact of energy production and use, particularly in respect of greenhouse gas emissions.

Steve Melling is an energy consultant with Energy Solutions who are project managers for SEI’s small and micro scale generation programme. Steve is a qualified Mechanical Engineer with MSc. qualifications in Renewable Energy. 

Both speakers will be available for consultation after the seminar. If you have any queries contact: Tony Mc Cormack  on 044-9348571 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it