Case Studies |
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Conkers Youth Hostel, Moira, Leicestershire |
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Situated in the heart of the National Forest on the Derbyshire/Leicestershire border, the 75 bed Youth Hostel is designed and built to a high level of energy efficency using materials sourced from the National Forest and incorporates a number of sustainable energy solutions. It has solar panels, rainwater gathering and a 90kW wood chip boiler.
The National Forest Company stipulated that the wood fuel should come from within the National Forest and English Wood Fuels Ltd was involved throughout the construction process advising on the design of the chip store and the other considerations needed for bulk deliveries.
EWF has entered into an agreement with the YHA, the hostel operator, to supply the boiler with wood chip for the next year. The boiler can take medium G50 chip up to a moisture content of 35% and is expected to require approximately 60 tonnes per annum.
EWF fulfils all the health and safety obligations in terms of risk assessment and method statement preparation and takes on the liability for any possible fault to the boiler arising from poor quality fuel. The company has now trained and contracted with a local forestry contractor, who is also a member of the producer group, to supply the wood chip.
The chip store measures approximately 60m3 and features a hydraulically raised roof allowing a tractor drawn trailer to fully tip. The first 4 tonne delivery was made at the end of September and so far the boiler is performing flawlessly with fuel of the desired specification. The hostel is due to open to the public at the end of November 2007.
Hopefully this supply arrangement will form a model for future fuel agreements where EWF acts as the chief liaison between customers and wood fuel producers and contractors. |
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Burrough Court, Leicestershire |
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A wood chip heating system centred around a Herz Firematic 150kW boiler was chosen as an economic way to heat several large warehouses and a group of offices via a small district heat network. A crucial part of the system are the heat meters on entry to each warehouse that allow the owner to charge each tenant for the energy they use.
A 12 x 6 metre building houses the entire system including the 36m3 chip store, back up boiler and all the valves, pumps and controls for both systems. The boiler house structure is built into the side of a bank allowing direct tipping of fuel through a lifting roof without the need for a ramp or scissor lift trailer. Once again EWF was involved in the design process.
Since commissioning at the end of the spring this year, EWF has supplied the G50 wood chip from its own stock and arranged its delivery by a tractor and trailer owned by a member of the producer group. The fuel requirement is likely to be approximately 100 tonnes per annum. |
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Highcliffe Primary School, Birstall, Leicester |
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For the last 2 years EWF has supplied wood chip to Highcliffe Primary School in north Leicester which is heated by a 200kW Thermia boiler with a stoker burner and customized fuel feed system. The wood chip system provides 90% of the total heat demand with an additional 200kW oil boiler providing occasional peak load heating requirements and when the chip store/trailer is being refilled.
A trailer fitted with a self unloading scraper floor is used to deliver the wood chip and is then docked into the fuel reception trough that feeds the chips into the boiler house and into the boiler store. The trailer holds approximately 8 tonnes and is filled at roughly 2-3 week intervals throughout the winter. Annual usage is about 100 tonnes of G50 wood chip at 30% moisture.
Currently the wood chip comes from EWF's own stock stored locally and the trailer is towed and filled by the producer group member at this farm. |
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