Woodchip boilers on the march

New flats bring big-time biomass heating to southern England

Mainstream housebuilders in Redhill, Surrey, are putting in a 1MW biomass heating system to provide 250 flats with warmth and hot water from a single boiler. It’s part of ‘Park 25’, a development of 500 houses and flats by Bellway Homes, George Wimpey and Barratt Homes.

The company advising them, MCA Consulting Engineers, claims it’s the first big housing project in the southeast to use this renewable heat technology, and says it should cut 500 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions a year.

Park 25 is a response to the Surrey Structure Plan, adopted in 2004, which requires new development to include the generation of renewable energy. The boiler will be fired using locally sourced wood chip.

According to the Energy Saving Trust (EST), this relatively straightforward renewable technology has the potential for cutting the UK’s overall household carbon dioxide emissions by 3%, as a carbon- and cost-saving alternative to oil, electric heating and LPG. The uptake has been slow until now, however, with only 150 biomass pellet boilers in use in the entire UK as of last year.

Scotland and Wales have led the field, because that’s where the first government grants were available. Fyne Homes was a pioneer, although teething problems at its 50-house scheme in Lochgilphead, Argyll, caused some unhappy teeth-chattering among residents.

Recently, West Highland Housing Association completed the first 44 homes of 90 at Glenshellach, near Oban, which will be powered by one of the largest biomass district heating systems in the UK. - Charlie Jacoby

9 November 2006

Charlie Jacoby