Green energy
Turning Irish beer and whiskey residues into renewable energy German biogas specialist WELTEC BIOPOWER is currently constructing a cutting-edge biomethane facility for Evergreen Agricultural Enterprises Limited in Monasterevin, County Kildare, Ireland. Scheduled for commissioning in mid-2026, the project will be completed after an 11-month construction period.
According to Patrick Meade, Managing Director of Evergreen, the location provides multiple logistical advantages:
“The site is conveniently connected to the M7 motorway, and the national gas network for direct biomethane injection is located just nearby,” he explains.
The €50 million project features four primary digesters and one stainless-steel secondary digester, each with a capacity of 4,900 cubic metres. The plant will primarily process residues and by-products from Ireland’s beer and whiskey industries — materials that are abundant, sustainable, and unsuitable for animal feed.
Three additional tanks will store liquid substrates. Despite its scale — an annual throughput of 165,000 tonnes — the plant is being constructed in just six months of active build time.
“Construction is progressing on schedule, with mechanical completion planned for the end of this year,” confirms Tobias Gerweler, Managing Director of WELTEC BIOPOWER.
Meade adds that Evergreen deliberately avoided using grass silage as feedstock:
“We made a conscious decision to exclude grass silage to avoid competing with the livestock sector.”
A combined heat and power (CHP) unit on-site will generate around 1 megawatt of electricity to power operations and provide heat to the digesters.
To ensure optimal substrate digestion, the facility is equipped with three long-axis agitators and three submersible motor agitators. The biogas produced in the digesters — covered by double-membrane roofs — will be refined into biomethane using membrane separation technology.
The finished biomethane will then be injected directly into the public gas grid, just 20 metres from the plant. Once operational, the facility will generate approximately 1,300 standard cubic metres of biomethane per hour, equivalent to about 110 GWh of energy annually.
The process will also produce 65,000 tonnes of digestate per year, which will be separated into solid and liquid fractions, stored in a covered concrete lagoon, and distributed to local farmers as a valuable biofertiliser.
Meade highlights that WELTEC BIOPOWER’s technical expertise and rapid delivery capabilities were decisive factors in awarding the contract for what will be Ireland’s largest biomethane plant to date.
Ireland’s government aims to produce 5.7 terawatt-hours (TWh) of biomethane annually by 2030. Achieving this will require both the upgrading of existing biogas facilities and the development of advanced new plants such as Evergreen’s in Kildare — a flagship example of how renewable energy innovation can align with Ireland’s agricultural and sustainability goals
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