WOOD HITS THE COME-BACK TRAIL AS THE FUEL OF THE FUTURE

From Kintyre to the Black Isle, business owners have taken advantage of a European Union-funded grant scheme to install wood-burning boilers to heat their buildings.

Among the buildings which will be heated by wood thanks to the scheme are hotels, estate offices, a bunkhouse, a sawmill workshop and a nursing home whose owners have used the grants to help them with the costs of buying and installing state-of-the-art, woodchip-burning boilers.

Several other building owners, including a salmon hatchery and a cluster of self-catering holiday units, have applied for grants or made enquiries. And a number of businesses have used grants to help them with the costs of buying and installing the equipment they need to supply the market with wood chips.

The grant scheme is known as the Wood Fuel Development Programme (WFDP) for the Highlands & Islands, which was developed by the Highlands & Islands Wood Fuel Group. It is using £216,900 from the European Regional Development Fund to help get boilers installed at a range of buildings, such as those owned by small and medium-sized businesses.

The EU grant is supplemented by match-funding from the Highlands & Islands Enterprise Network through the Local Enterprise Companies. As a result, building owners and wood chip suppliers have a grants fund worth nearly half a million pounds available to draw on. Their own, matching contributions towards the costs could bring the project value up to nearly £1 million. The project is being managed by Forestry Commission Scotland.

The fund helps businesses with the costs of installing boilers, boiler houses, and the hoppers that feed wood chips into the boilers. It also helps wood chip suppliers to buy and install the equipment, such as chippers, grading equipment and drying sheds, that they need to supply customers with chips.

WFDP project officer Rebecca Carr works to develop "clusters" of suppliers and customers in local districts throughout the Highlands & Islands to enable the market to get off the ground in local areas. She outlined some of the projects that have been helped by the grant scheme so far:

"We have had a lot of interest across the region, particularly in Argyll, where two clusters have been funded and more are in development . The programme, supported by Argyll & the Islands Enterprise, has been able to build on the lead taken by the local energy agency, ALIenergy, which has been providing much-needed support locally to the burgeoning wood-fuel market. Two clusters have been funded and several more are in development.

“In Kintyre, the sawmill at Auchencorvie Farm that supplies chips to Fyne Homes for its district heating schemes was having trouble maintaining a reliable delivery service, so it received a grant to help it buy its own crane so that it could do the deliveries itself. The owner, Ewan Johnstone, is also investing in his storage and handling facilities to improve the efficiency and safety of its production process. The Balnakill Country House Hotel, which has had a massive increase in heating bills as oil prices rise, is using this opportunity to switch to wood fuel as a cheaper, sustainable source of fuel.

"On Islay, Dunlossit Estate received a grant to help it establish its own wood chip supply chain and to install a wood-fuel boiler for the estate offices. It is now moving on to heat a bunkhouse in a converted barn on the estate, and it will be able to supply other buildings in the area. We are planning to hold an awareness-raising event that will highlight the availability of wood fuel on Islay, and which will tie in with the island's position as a centre for renewable energy.

"In the Lochaber Enterprise area, the scheme has helped a local supplier, Richard Livett, in Ardnamurchan, who supplies wood chips to the local post office, but needed more equipment to enable him to expand the business and supply more customers. In a classic illustration of cluster building, now that he has established a reliable supply of wood chips, another local company has applied for funding to help it install a boiler, while the owner of a local hotel is also considering a grant to install a wood-burning boiler.

"In Strathspey, Russwood has used a grant to buy a chipper and handling equipment to enable it to supply local customers, and it has installed its own wood-burning boiler. It also supplies chips to The Mains Care Home in Newtonmore and Scottish Natural Heritage’s offices in Aviemore. A hotel in Boat of Garten has also applied for a grant to install a boiler that the sawmill business will be able to supply, and which will contribute to the hotel's 'green tourism' strategy.

"The wood-fuel market is also growing in the Black Isle, where Raddery Sawmill is increasing its capacity to supply wood chips as demand rises from public and private-sector projects. We're also processing applications for grants from clusters in Wester Ross and on Mull, where there is the prospect of three new wood-fuel boilers.

"We've also had enquiries from Oban, Cowal, Tomintoul, Forres, Applecross and Caithness. This is all good news for the environment, for forest owners, wood-processing businesses, and communities in the Highlands & Islands.”

"It's good for the environment because, unlike oil, coal and gas, wood is a fuel that is constantly being renewed as the forests are replanted after harvesting. The new generation of growing trees soaks up the carbon that is released when the previous generation of trees is burned, thereby creating a 'carbon-neutral' cycle that causes no nett extra emissions of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. This cycle does not exist in the case of oil, coal and gas."

"It's good news for forest owners and wood-processing businesses because it is helping to develop a new market for their wood, and Highland communities benefit from the extra jobs that are being created in districts where employment opportunities may be hard to find.

“The programme offers the ideal opportunity to promote this kind of renewable energy. The growing biomass sector means that for heavily forested areas in the Highlands jobs can be created in wood-fuel supply as well as in the installation of wood-burning boilers.

“Wood fuel seems to represent a win-win situation by creating employment in collecting and processing the fuel and in the installation and maintenance of the systems, as well as a more stable fuel price and of course the reduction in carbon dioxide emissions.”

NOTES TO EDITORS:

1. The wood chips are made from the "co-products" produced by sawmills, such as the outer parts of logs that are being sawn into planks, and from "low-grade" wood from forestry operations.
2. The Highlands & Islands Wood Fuel Group comprises Forestry Commission Scotland, Highlands & Islands Enterprise, Highland Council, Argyll & Bute Council, ALIenergy, the Forestry & Timber Association, Communities Scotland, Highland Birchwoods, North Highland Forest Trust and Scottish Natural Heritage.
3. Modern, wood-fired boilers can be used for space and water heating. They are especially suited to buildings with a constant demand for heat, such as hotels, offices, schools, hospitals, care homes and factories. They can be fed with chips from automated hoppers that only need refilling at intervals ranging from a few days to more than a week, depending on their size.
4. Scotland's wood supply is growing and there is considerable capacity to expand the use of wood for fuel. Wood production is set to grow from about 5 million tonnes at present to nearly 10 million tonnes by 2020 as new forests planted in the late 20th century reach maturity and are harvested for the first time.
5. Wood-fuelled heating is a tried and tested technology, especially in Scandinavia and Austria. For example, wood supplies more than 20 per cent of Finland's primary energy consumption.
6. The Highlands & Islands Special Transitional Programme is part of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). The project received funding under the ERDF's Priority 2 - "Creating the Conditions for Regional Competitiveness, Measure 3 - Improvement of provision of energy networks, energy efficiency and sustainable exploitation of renewable energy potential".
7. Forestry Commission Scotland serves as the Scottish Executive's forestry department. It manages 666,000 hectares of national forest land owned by Scottish Ministers to provide multiple benefits including public recreation, timber production, nature conservation, and rural and community development; supports other woodland owners with grants, felling licences, advice and regulation; promotes the benefits of forests and forestry; and advises Ministers on forestry policy.

Forestry Commission Scotland:

• Rebecca Carr, project officer, 01349 866004, mobile 07717 618650, who can help with local angles;
• Charlton Clark, press office, 0131 314 6500; mobile 07810 181067;