What is the Activating Private Forest Owners to Increase Forest Fuel Supply (AFO) Project?
The project aims at learning from the forest owners and other forest ‘actors’, from areas where success for Private Forest Owners (PFOs) has been achieved such as Finland and Austria. The aim is to identify and then help reduce the barriers for increased fuel supply from forestry and creating "activation material" to be disseminated to the forest owners in the rest of Europe, i.e. DVD’s, publications etc.
The AFO project promotes a ‘roadmap’ of the route from good silvicultural practices to forest energy delivery as well as the potential financial support mechanisms to increase forest owners’ activities in harvesting and use of woodfuels. It also promotes sustained market development for woodfuel for heat (and power production) and matches the supply and demand at the local and regional level.
A poster about the project is available here.
Yorkshire & North East have won a bid jointly via the Forestry Commission and South Yorkshire Forest Partnership to join the Activating Forest Owners (AFO) project.
The project is funded by the EU via the Intellegent Energy Europe Fund (IEE).
What is Intelligent Energy Europe?
Intelligent Energy Europe is an EU programme for the promotion of energy efficiency and renewable energy sources. It aims to produce and use energy in more intelligent ways increasing the use of renewables. You can find out more about the Intelligent Energy Europe Programme here.
How does the IEE and the AFO project impact on South Yorkshire?
The objective of the AFO for South Yorkshire is to promote and increase woodfuel supply at a regional level, by activating the participation of private forest owners (PFO’s) in wood fuel supply. By establishing exemplar wood fuel supply chain clusters, improving the confidence of wood energy end users - new markets for wood energy will be secured.
What will the AFO Project deliver?
- Increases in the use of woodfuel at all user levels: domestic use, small district heating facilities, co-generation of heat and power, through to co-firing with coal in electricity production.
- Clarity of the picture on the European private forest owner’s attitudes on using forestry to provide energy, creating new 'tools' for them to use.
- Changes in the attitudes and behaviour of European private forest owners and their organisations towards woodfuel.
- A set of best practice business concepts, networks, to increase production of woodfuel from forests.
- A clarified picture on the fuel potential from private European forests.
How will this project work be undertaken?
The work tasks have been broken down into a coherent set of work packages (7 in total) in which the major tasks follow on from each other in a logical order, with work packages evolving from the results of the previous work package.
What will the Forestry Commission be responsible for?
The FC is responsible for the delivery of Work Package 4; Activation of co-ordinated local woodfuel supply clusters, as well as working with other EU members of the project to deliver their work packages.
This work package aims at reaching the woodland owners and answering their different challenges in bringing more wood for fuel to market. It will involve collating information, identifying barriers and solutions, and producing innovative, clear and informative promotional material to promote knowledge transfer.
Ensuring as wide an activation of PFO’s as possible in order to increase the uptake of woodfuel supply chains as a result of WP4, will fall to SYFP.
To see the area covered by the Activating Forest Owners Project click here.
Vince Carter of the Forestry Commission has written an article, entitled "Connecting small forest owners to developing demand for woodfuel in South Yorkshire" which can be read on the Confederation of European Forest Owners (CEPF) website here. You can see more about our efforts to bring the woods and owners of South Yorkshire together here.
Where can I find out more information about using wood as fuel in Yorkshire and The Humber and the AFO project?
Contact the Forestry Commissions AFO co-ordinator by ‘email’ or by looking at the AFO webpages.
