A three megawattt woodburner has been opened at Kernock Park Plants, Cornwall.
The centralised boiler replaces 13 oil boilers distributed around the 3.5ha of protection. An estimated 2,000 tonnes of wood chip will replace the annual 600,000 litres of oil required to heat the glasshouses for young plant production.
Kernock Park Plants partner, Richard Harnett, suggested to the growers and specialists attending the opening that care was needed in deciding to convert to the ‘Carbon Neutral’ fuel, and that it was not for everyone.
“If you need the convenience of just flicking a switch and going away, wood is probably not for you,” he maintained. “Burning wood needs a person with the skill and passion to drive the burner much like the drivers of railway steam engines. Computerisation helps a great deal to aid decisions but there still needs to be someone around to tweak the controls.”
Harnett went on to say that the UK lacks knowledge in wood burning. “Many countries in Europe have the culture to understand the requirements of burning wood,” he pointed out. “There needs to be co-operation and understanding between boiler manufacturers and their agents, foresters, sawmills and chipping machine manufacturers to help the end user make the best use of the boiler and material”.
Harnet also called on an organisation to set up a liaison group during the early stages of woodburner installations that are going on in the UK.
It is estimated that the saving in fuel cost will be around 50 percent. The cost of installation is much higher than oil or gas boilers and the pay back is estimated at six to eight years with oil at the current price. Kernock was given some funding for this project under the Objective 1 grant scheme.
