Faced with escalating fossil fuel bills, the farm’s owners wanted to save money by utilising their own supply of wood fuel, which they planned to chip and store on site. The system would have to heat six separate buildings and replace two oil boilers.
Complete Biomass District Heating Package
Treco supplied and installed a single, top-of-the-range 100kW Guntamatic Powerchip biomass boiler in a district heating scheme, which replaced the two existing oil boilers. The boiler and fuel store were installed in an outbuilding located 100 metres from the main properties and all of the buildings were linked using insulated underground pipe. All fuel will be sourced from the owner’s woodland, which is dried, chipped and stored on site.
Project Summary
The client converted an existing outbuilding into a boiler house and wood chip fuel store, into which Treco’s biomass boiler heating system was installed.
Treco’s complete installation, commissioning and maintenance service included;
- A top-of-the-range 100kW Guntamatic Powerchip biomass boiler.
- A 3,000 litre thermal store.
- Fuel flexibility; Wood chip boiler has multi fuel capabilities and can also run on wood pellets, cereals or miscanthus.
- Distribution pipework, including internal connections.
- Self-cleaning moving step grate system improves efficiency and allows the boiler to cope with a wide variation in fuel quality. It also means that the boiler can switch between fuel types via a touch screen control panel, without the need for an engineer’s visit.
- Automated adjustment to variable heat loads; modulation from 22% to 100% capacity at peak 96% efficiency, reducing fuel consumption.
- Auto-ignition & de-ashing into a separate container.
- Combustion efficiency measured by lambda probe.
The Renewable Heat Incentive
As well as fuel cost savings of 80%, the client is eligible for inclusion in the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI). This will enable them to gain payments worth over ten thousand pounds a year for green heat generated by submitting quarterly meter readings to OFGEM. These payments and the fuel cost saving will mean that the project is both environmentally and financially rewarding.
Key Facts*
Installed Cost; £85,000
- Guntamatic 100kW Powerchip boiler system including flues and thermal store.
- Distribution pipework including internal connections to plate heat exchangers.
- Fuel Consumption; 37 tonnes of wood chips, per annum. (based on 100kW boiler, in a similar application)
Fuel Cost Saving; (Source; Biomass Energy Centre)
- Wood chips; 80% (will utilise own wood fuel supply).
CO2 Saving; (Source; Biomass Energy Centre)
- 98% or 44 tonnes vs heating oil.
RHI Payments;
- A project of this size would gain an average of £10,380 every year for 20 years, index linked to inflation.
Payback Period;
- 4-5 years (if combining RHI income & fuel cost saving).
(*Figures are based on an average of several typical projects of this size. Current information on RHI payments for guidance only, not to be considered a guarantee.)
