Assured Asset Energy (AAE), a UK-based company specialising in anaerobic digestion and waste gasification technologies, has set up £27 million (€33 million) in financing for up to 30 new on-farm biogas projects in Northern Ireland.

The fund, AAE says, will help Northern Ireland reach its 2020 renewables target. Set out in the Strategic Energy Framework for Northern Ireland 2010, the region must source 40% of its total energy from renewable materials in six years’ time.

It is expected the £27 million, which will be made available to the country’s farming community, will help establish plants able to process a total 450,000 tonnes per year of farm waste, producing enough biogas to generate up to 8.5MW of renewable energy for sale into the Northern Ireland grid.

Environment minister Mark Durkan was reported to have said: ‘This fund will help more farmers to seize the benefits of this renewable technology which can help them make savings and reduce running costs in the longer term. Anaerobic digesters can also assist in reducing carbon emissions and help meet Executive Renewable Energy targets.’