Alternative energy producers will benefit from a Government package of supports for bioenergy that will be unveiled today. Barry O'Halloranreports.

Minister for Energy Eamon Ryan is expected to announce grants of up to €8 million to support heat and electricity production from biomass. He is also likely to reveal price supports for businesses using waste to produce electricity through a process called anaerobic digestion.

The move could benefit firms seeking to develop facilities using this technology in the Republic, including Bioverda, and the Bill McCabe-backed Bedminster.

State price supports are given to established alternative energy operators such as wind farms through various renewable energy feed in tariff (Refit) schemes operated by the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources.

The payments are in return for electricity supplied to the national grid and are designed to support these businesses until they become commercially competitive. However, they do not apply to the industry as a whole and lobby groups representing various businesses are seeking them on the basis that they are necessary to guarantee funding for new projects and to boost alternative energy production.

As part of a package last week, Mr Ryan announced a 22 cent per unit support for wave-generated power. Comparable payments for onshore wind run to around five cent a unit.