Newsletters

Winter 07/08 Newsletter

Woodfuel support gets the thumbs up
German chipper technology comes to the South West
Woodfuel stores - Surely it’s just a box?

Woodfuel support gets the thumbs up

Forest Fuels is currently delivering a programme of woodfuel information events, Ignite Training and company support, which we launched at the South West Woodland Show back in September. We were awarded the contract by Regen SW and see ourselves playing a key role in growing biomass heat and power in the region and putting the south west on the path to a self-sustaining woodfuel industry.

One of our recent events was held on 27th November at Netham Pavilion, Bristol. The day provided delegates with an opportunity to look at a new build project with a 150kW boiler installation, purpose built boiler house and underground fuel store. The event focused on woodfuel production, processing, transport and sale. There were also machinery demonstrations and a chance to quiz companies already involved in the woodfuel industry.

Forty people attended the event including architects, engineering consultants, potential woodfuel suppliers, representatives from the waste industry, individuals from local authorities, all of whom wished to investigate the opportunities for woodfuel technology in their own organisations, as well as landowners and woodland owners.

The overwhelming feedback from the delegates was positive with lots of praise for the expert knowledge delivered by our speakers.

These included:

Andy Owens, Business Development Manager, Wood Energy Ltd
A leading supplier and installer of biomass technology.

Chris Miles, Managing Director, Econergy
A leading supplier and installer of biomass technology

Roy Brook, Managing Director, Ecowood Fuels
Ecowood Fuels manufacture and supply wood pellets across the UK to domestic and commercial customers.

Mark Prior, woodfuel co-ordinator, The Forestry Commission

Richard Slatem, Managing Director, Fuelwood (Warwick) Ltd
A leading importer of wood fuel chipping technology.

Dr Mike Carver, Bical
Expert on energy crops

Paul Barker, Energy Management Officer, Bristol City Council
A first-hand account from a local authority that is leading the way in woodfuel technology.

If you are interested in attending we still have spaces for forthcoming events, which include: 

Bicton College, Devon, on January 29th 2008: Recently installed Binder woodfuel boiler serving the new estate offices, with woodfuel sourced from their own woodlands. As one of the south west’s leading forestry estates, Clinton Devon wish to develop the site as a model woodfuel project.

The Eden Project, Cornwall, on February 18th 2008: Eden has installed a 300kW boiler installation to provide a base load to the biomes. This project demonstrates the environmental advantages of wood heat installation in the tourism and leisure sector. The project also provides useful feedback on the lessons learnt around woodfuel storage.

All the events provide attendees with a mix of practical boiler/fuel demonstrations and include speakers with highly targeted knowledge of the industry. The events are aimed at individuals working within the woodfuel supply chain or planning to do so.

Ignite Training

Ignite Training has also begun with a course already held at the Duchy College, Callington, Cornwall, at the beginning of November. There are two further courses:

14-16 January 2008 Duchy College, Callington, Cornwall
4-6 February 2008 Hartpury College, Gloucester

Places are limited to 14 per course and spaces are limited to one individual per company. Preference is given to the following groups: Existing woodfuel companies; companies with the potential to diversify into any part of the woodfuel supply chain; owners or brokers of potential woodfuel resource and individuals playing an advisory role to woodfuel companies.

Booking

If you would like to attend a woodfuel support event or find out more information about the Ignite training and book your place then go online to www.southwestwoodshed.co.uk. Please contact Janette Newell at Forest Fuels on 01409 281 977 if you encounter any problems with booking.

German chipper technology comes to the
South West

It’s arrived! We have a new lorry and chipper with crane attached – a HM10–500K Heizohack. This high-tech machinery enables us to chip timber up to 2ft in diameter and we estimate being able to process around 250-300 cubic metres a day. The machine will be available in the New Year, providing chipping services throughout the South West. Part of the funding for the chipper has been provided by the RDA, through the Woodland Renaissance Project. They, like us, see the chipper as a vital element in ensuring confidence in a high quality and sustainable supply of woodfuel across the region, to help drive take-up of biomass boiler technology. The chipper will be particularly useful for estates and sites with their own timber, who may be installing biomass heating systems but don’t have the technology to convert their wood to woodfuel and don’t wish to tie up their capital in large pieces of machinery.

If you are interested in exploring the options for hiring the chipper then contact us at Forest Fuels on 01409 281 977.

Woodfuel stores - Surely it’s just a box?

Sam Whatmore offers his advice on the best way to design a woodfuel store

A woodfuel store might just be a box, but failing to consider it during the design and build process could result in long term problems. Fuel delivery costs can be increased by as much as a third, if the store is not designed appropriately.  Given that the lifetime of a boiler is likely to be 25 to 30 years, this could prove a very expensive mistake.

The best store design will allow for:

• Access for large eight wheeled 20 tonne vehicles or large agricultural trailers. 
• Tipped delivery direct into the fuel store - ideally a subterranean fuel store.
• Fuel store capacity designed to accommodate up to 50 m3 of chip ie one 35 m3 vehicle

Avoid:

• The need for one off specialist vehicles/trailers i.e. the running costs of a hook loader are £45/55 per hour.
• Small fuel stores requiring constant refueling – this adds £s to the fuel cost.
• Two stage handling ie chipping and then filling the fuel store.
• Bulk handling takes time and costs money.

Sites may need to compromise but it is critical to simplify the delivery and storage options to save on fuel costs in the long term. Poor planning and a lack of investment in the fuel store will result in higher fuels costs for the life of the boiler

The near "perfect" woodfuel store

This farm on Dartmoor is a good example of an optimally designed woodfuel store. It has a capacity of 50 m3. Deliveries are made every two weeks during the peak heating season and are tipped direct into the subterranean fuel store. The only modification to the store design was inclusion of a safety bar to stop the delivery vehicle accidentally reversing into the store. 

Business park in north Devon

The boiler installation at this site was part of a design and build project and, as with many recent projects, this was the first time the architects and engineers were involved in the installation of a biomass boiler.

Unlike oil, chip is a bulk commodity and consequently size is everything. The fuel store was sited on ground level, with access via a pedestrian door. Unfortunately there was no obvious way for a vehicle to deliver direct into the store, without considerable manual handling i.e. a shovel! Although an innovative solution has since been found to allow fuel delivery direct from the chipper, through a specially designed ‘hole in the roof’, the solution is a poor compromise as it requires chipping on site at weekends which is noisy and far from ideal on a business park. Regrettably, problems with woodfuel storage, handling and delivery are all too common and leave the end user with long term inconvenience and higher fuel cost.

Unfortunately projects can all too easily come unstuck if advice on specialist fuel storage and handling is not sought at planning stages. At a recent conference I was asked to provide consultancy on a number of projects by an architect. All went well until I proposed a fee. The reply came back “it’s only woodchip”. As you might expect I completely disagree with that attitude - woodfuel storage and handling is a specialist area and Forest Fuels is an expert in this field. For more information e-mail me at sam.whatmore@forestfuels.co.uk