Reopening Carlow sugar plant to produce ethanol is being considered, writes Seán MacConnell
According to those who want to have the former Carlow sugar factory reopened as an bioethanol producing plant, only the political will to do so is absent.
Ethanol is raw alcohol which can be mixed with conventional fuels at rates of between 5 and 15 per cent and using sugar beet is one of the most successful ways to make it. The Government has already asked the Irish Sugar Company for its attitude towards producing ethanol but is still awaiting a reply.
"I have recently asked Greencore for clarity as to whether, in the context of the new regime, it would be financially viable for it to consider growing sugar beet for bioethanol purposes and I await a response," Minister for Agriculture Mary Coughlan told the Dáil recently.
Greencore, the company that ran the Carlow plant, was saying nothing about that overture this week but it has made it known that it is not interested in ventures outside the food industry.
Chairman Ned Sullivan ruled out such an option at the agm in February and the company has already had talks with Carlow County Council about rezoning the site.
Cllr Mary White, deputy leader of the Green Party, who has been championing the conversion of the Carlow plant to ethanol production, believes it can be done for less than €25 million.
The micro-conditions for the emerging industry - a land bank, a skilled work force, feedstocks and local support are there, but the macro-conditions - fuel tax remissions and accelerated capital allowances are not, she argues.
Carlow formerly produced half of the national quota for sugar: roughly 660,000 tonnes of beet, meaning that it could produce approximately 1.7 per cent of Irish national consumption of petrol or 0.72 per cent of our transport fuels, she said.
"Business interests have indicated a desire to locate to Carlow to develop a new bio-refinery. However, this would cost in the region of €90 million," she added.
Recently Fine Gael's agriculture spokesman, Denis Naughten, said he wants Greencore to leave the Mallow plant open and produce biofuel there.
"The plant does not have to be closed down and turned into a greenfield site to qualify for compensation. The company could transfer ownership of it to the Government or another private body and as long as it no longer produces sugar there, compensation would be paid," he said.
He added that the alternative was to convert the Carlow plant to ethanol production, which would cut our dependency on oil and reduce our carbon emissions.
An independent view on whether or not an ethanol plant could emerge from the ashes of the sugar industry came from Teagasc biofuels researcher, Bernard Rice.
"I don't know what Greencore left in the Carlow plant but there were facilities for intake, washing, slicing and getting out the raw sugar," he said.
He estimated that the Carlow plant could go into ethanol production if around €20 million was spent.
The Irish Farmers' Association is currently involved in a stand-off with Greencore and the Government for the major share of the €146 million in compensation which will come from the closure of the Mallow plant.
"It comes down to price and whichever crop you're talking about, it's not a runner for growers at the moment," said IFA president Pádraig Walshe.
"Wheat is generating a price of about €135 a tonne dried, and the quote in the UK for wheat as an ethanol product is €100. While there is an energy crop payment per hectare, at €45, it wouldn't close the gap," he said.
However, farming interest in growing alternative crops, especially for energy purposes is at an all time high and with the political will, Carlow may one day again be a sugar town.