Smokeless solid fuel briquettes will be produced at a new £8 million Co Mayo factory in October in a joint Norwegian/Irish venture which will directly employ around 100 people. Premises are currently being built at Bunnahowen, 25 miles west of Ballina, by Hydro Energi, a subsidiary of the Norwegian industrial giant, Norsk Hydro. A recruitment drive has begun for manufacturing technicians for "a highly automated, state-of-the-art facility". The project is funded by Udaras na Gaeltachta.
A spokesman for Hydro Energi said the company would be making no announcement on recruitment numbers because it was determined that there would be no "false dawns". But one industry source said 50 employees were being taken on, with the expectation that this would go up to about 120 when the plant is fully operational. The venture is an important boost to north Mayo which has seen recent job losses in its textile manufacturing facilities at Asahi in Killala.
The project is unique in Ireland in combining peat and other ingredients to make a smokeless fuel, although Bord na Mona peat briquettes are accepted in the smokeless zones established at Dublin and Cork. The Galway-based company, Thomas McDonogh & Sons Ltd which has multiple interests including coal, fertiliser and animal feeds, has a 30 per cent interest in Hydro Energi, believed to be worth over £8 million. McDonogh has important distribution links which will be used in the new venture and is represented on the Hydro Energi board. The Hydro Energi spokesman said that a new type of solid fuel would be produced and packaged as different end-products for the domestic user.
A source close to the operation said the new product had been developed after considerable research by fuel experts. The briquette will be a smokeless fuel, combining peat with other ingredients. Demand for bituminous coal is in decline because of increased anti-smog regulations in urban areas. It is believed the plant's capacity is to produce 100,000 tonnes of briquettes per annum. The initiative is a second attempt to product a solid fuel briquette after a company called Peat Power had an unsuccessful venture at the same site in the late eighties. Its assets were bought by Norsk Hydro in recent years. A spokesman for Udaras na Gaeltachta said that the impact of the plant on the local economy, whose nearest main town is Belmullet, would be "phenomenal". He said an 1,100-acre bog which surrounds the plant's site would be leased by Udaras to Hydro Energi. Hyrdo Energi also owns a bog at nearby Ballycroy.
The parent company, Norsk Hydro, also has extensive salmon farming interests in Co Donegal, owning Fanad Fisheries which is also based in a Gaeltacht area. According to its annual report, Norsk Hydro is the world's largest producer of farmed salmon.
It also has interests in agriculture, oil, gas, metals and petrochemicals. It is Europe's largest producer and supplier of fertilizer. It is also engaged in oil and gas exploration and refining. Norsk Hydro's oil production in Norway is the equivalent of 270,000 barrels per day.
