Plans are underway for a renewable gas facility just outside Portlaoise, which will supply 100 construction jobs during its development and a further 8-10 full time.
Bord na Mona also anticipate other indirect jobs will arise from the plant in the Midlands area.
Bord na Mona are in talks about placing the facility at its Cúil na Móna site off the Togher roundabout, 2km outside of Portlaoise.
The purpose of the amenity will be to treat up to 80,000 tonnes of non-hazardous, biodegradable, organic material a year.
Bord na Mona say the materials could include commercial food waste, brown bin waste and animal slurries, to purpose grown crops and food processing residues.
The renewable gas processed on-site will be added to the national gas grid.
The material or ‘digestate’, left over from the process will be sent for storage in an air-tight covered lagoon, before being taken off site as used as a sustainable bio-fertilizer.
The company have chosen the site in question due to it’s proximity to the national gas network, motorway infrastructure, rail links and road passageways which aid pipe and cable laying, and it being an uninhabitable area with no residential or commercial properties. The land is also suitable as it is flat and well drained.
An environmental impact assessment (EAI) must be carried out due to the nature and extent of the project.
An environmental impact assessment report must also be drawn up and will be submitted alongside the planning application the Laois County Council.
Public consultation has began with those living in close proximity to the development, and engineering surveys have been ongoing since the beginning of this year.
The company hopes to begin construction in early 2020, pending approval.
This is certainly good news for this area of Laois.
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