Biomethane Offtake Agreement for Irish Gas Infrastructure

A cooperation between Centrica Energy, Bord Gáis Energy, and Stream BioEnergy establishes a long-term offtake and market integration framework for a biomethane facility in Ireland, targeting renewable gas production from organic waste streams.

Context of the Cooperation
Centrica Energy, a trading and optimisation company, and Bord Gáis Energy, its Irish supply business, are working with Stream BioEnergy, a developer of anaerobic digestion plants, to address the scaling of renewable gas production in Ireland. The project focuses on converting municipal food and garden waste into biomethane while ensuring that the produced gas can be reliably integrated into the national energy system.

This cooperation responds to both technical and commercial challenges. Biomethane production requires consistent feedstock processing and gas upgrading, while grid injection requires compliance with gas quality standards and access to trading and distribution infrastructure. The partnership combines these capabilities across production, market access, and supply.

Technical Solution and Responsibilities
The facility under development near Cork is designed to process approximately 90,000 tonnes of organic waste per year using anaerobic digestion. The resulting biogas is upgraded to biomethane by removing carbon dioxide, water vapour, and trace compounds to meet grid specifications for calorific value and pressure.

Stream BioEnergy is responsible for plant development, operation, and feedstock management. Centrica Energy manages the full offtake of biomethane and handles associated green certificate mechanisms, ensuring traceability of renewable gas. Bord Gáis Energy supports the physical delivery of biomethane into the Irish gas grid and its alignment with downstream supply.

Deployment and Implementation
The plant is currently under construction and is expected to become operational in 2027. Once commissioned, biomethane will be injected into the existing gas network through dedicated connection and metering infrastructure. The implementation includes commissioning of digestion systems, gas upgrading units, and validation of gas quality prior to continuous operation.

Integration with existing infrastructure enables the use of current distribution networks without requiring major end-user modifications.

Applications and Use Cases
The produced biomethane is intended for use across industrial, commercial, and residential gas applications. It can substitute natural gas in heating and process applications while maintaining compatibility with existing equipment.

The project also represents a circular resource model, where organic waste streams are converted into usable energy, reducing landfill volumes and associated emissions.

Expected Impact
The facility is expected to generate around 80 GWh of biomethane annually without subsidy support. This contributes to Ireland’s renewable energy targets while diversifying gas supply sources.

From a system perspective, the cooperation enables controlled injection of renewable gas, improves traceability through certificate management, and supports the broader development of a digital energy infrastructure capable of integrating distributed low-carbon gas sources.

Edited by an industrial journalist Sucithra Mani with AI assistance.

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