Representatives from land and property owning organisations came together at Chatsworth House last week for our most recent Fit for the Future Network event, From Harvest to Heat. Delegates hailed from member organisations including the RNLI, the National Trust, Peak District National Park, Chatsworth House, Canal & River Trust, Historic England, Thoresby Estate, and the John Muir Trust. Representatives from CIBSE and Ofgem also came along to share their expertise.

The event covered the whole process of renewable heat from different types of biomass materials and the wood fuel supply chain to the maintenance of biomass boilers and this year’s changes to the domestic RHI. Luke Sherlock, Sustainability Manager at Chatsworth, kicked things off with a case study of the estate’s renewable heat projects. Their biomass boilers are fuelled by self-supplied woodchip, which is a bi-product of woodland management. Ensuring a sustainable future is embedded in the long-term strategy at Chatsworth, as Luke explained in a recent post on the Network news pages. 

The day included further case studies from the National Trust and the Combine Project, as well as ‘ask the expert’ slots with Ofgem and CIBSE, and a wood fuel supply chain workshop. Sessions sparked many interesting discussions, which included the following topics.

Self-Supply and the RHI

Under new biomass sustainability requirements for the non-domestic (and domestic) Renewable Heat Incentive, Chatsworth and other estates that supply their own woodfuel will need to register as self-suppliers on the Biomass Suppliers List. Here’s all the info on who needs to register and how to do it. Nicola Percival, Policy Manager for the Non-Domestic RHI scheme at Ofgem, introduced delegates to the draft guidance for the sustainability requirements. This can now be viewed online.

Biomass Beyond Wood- the Combine Project

Rachel Smith of the Severn Wye Energy Agency introduced delegates to the Combine project, which has been testing and developing a technology to produce biogas and solid biofuel from “waste” biomass material such as grassland, bracken, rushes and roadside verge cuttings. The project aims are to enhance biodiversity and increase green waste recycling. Landowners including National Trust, Wildlife Trusts and a number of County Councils are participating. The results in terms of fuel quality, biogas yield and economic analysis will be shared at a conference on 9th September.

Buying by Heat not Weight

Edward Wood, Renewables Project Manager at The National Trust, presented a case study of the wood chip boiler at Croft Castle, which is fuelled by wood from the estate. The boiler has brought a saving of 19,500L of oil per year and has allowed the removal of 6 oil tanks with a 15 year payback period. The property team buy the wood from the woodland management team in units of heat rather than weight of wood.  This helps to ensure that quality is maintained and wood has the right moisture content for the boiler.

Biomass boilers are not one size fits all

David Palmer of CIBSE covered best practice maintenance of biomass boilers during an ‘Ask the Expert’ session. David pointed delegates towards AM15, a concise document that covers all of the key points made in his presentation. He also spoke about location-specific design of  boilers with different flue lengths required, for example, depending on surroundings.

Link suppliers and maintenance companies

Henry Unwin, Project Manager of Bioregional’s Good Woods project, ran a wood fuel supply chain workshop at the event. Groups analysed the boundaries at different stages of the chain, from woodland management right through to boiler installation. Amongst the many ideas shared was the  advice that using the same company for pellet/chip supply and maintenance can be very beneficial.  The company will have a greater incentive to supply quality chips/ pellets to in order to ensure minimum maintenance is needed.

Network members can access presentations and resources from the day in the members area. Check out the calendar for details of upcoming events as well as site visits and meetings.

This post was written by Charlotte Stokes, Fit for the Future Network intern. Charlotte is a Geography graduate, and has a keen interest in green energy as well as encouraging others to live more sustainably.

All images  © John Saunders