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ISSUE #1. SEPTEMBER 2013
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1

EDITOR: David Vickers.
eMail: editor@woodfuelmagazine.co.uk
tel: 0790 067 7715.
Skype: davidvickersmedia
Please contact the editor with your news,
comments or ideas for future articles in the
Magazine.
Advertising is also available - contact David
Vickers to find out more.
2

I guess the first thing to
say is “Welcome”!
This is the first issue of
the Woodfuel Magazine,
and it aims to promote
and support the woodheat
industry - whether
you are a potential end-user, a chip or pellet
supplier, a boiler manufacturer, a consultant,
whether you offer bespoke installation services,
or you offer quality standards checking, I
hope that this magazine will grow as the industry
grows, to provide you with interesting
and informative news and views.
The magazine will not shy away from poorly
conceived installations, it will talk about issues
within the industry, but it will be done from a
perspective of ‘we need to learn from this’. If
there has been a poor installation, poor service
or poor quality, I’d like to know how it
was put right.
It’s about putting the client first. It’s about
setting a professional tone to the industry as a
whole. It’s about doing what is right. And from
talking to many people within the industry, I
also know that is what you want and indeed,
already do.
Woodfuel Magazine is here for the industry,
and it’s here for the end-user too. One of the
very strengths of this magazine is that it is independent.
I want to report on the excellent work that is
being done, about all the successful installations,
about the environmental factors and the
links to a low carbon future, about how the
3
Editor’s Comment
industry is helping bring woodlands back into
useful production and creating new habitats
for wildlife.
You see, there’s so much to shout about
(rather than shout at) in this industry that I
hope you’ll read and support Woodfuel Magazine
as it sets out to promote wood heat.
And what better reason to shout from the
rooftops than the recent key milestone that
there have been over 2,000 RHI approved solid
biomass installations in Britain - if there was
ever a time to take stock, celebrate and move
the industry further onwards, it’s right now.
As Stewart Boyle suggests in his book, 20% of
total energy by bio-energy in 25-30 years is a
possibility, and woodfuel could form a significant
part of that.
On that note we’ve got a competition to win a
free copy of The Sleeping Giant Awakens - Bio-
Energy In The UK by Stewart, as well as an excerpt
from the book and an offer too!
With the domestic RHI announced, and -stop
press- over 2,000 installations reached, we’ll
be looking at the RHI overall.
There’s also a look into the world of
quality within woodfuel,
news, and more...

THIS MONTH
EDITORS COMMENT… 3
INDUSTRY NEWS… 6
CONFERENCES… 11
INDUSTRY COMPARISON… 12
A quick look at how the biomass industry
compares to other renewable / sustainable
industries.
RHI… 13
Woodfuel Magazine takes a look at the rise
and rise of modern wood heating.
GRAPHICALLY SPEAKING… 15
Key performance indicators from the Ofgem
RHI reports.
CASE STUDY… 30
GRIN AND BERE IT:
THE DOMESTIC RHI… 18
Anna Livesey of the MicroPower Council sets out
the pros and cons of the domestic RHI package.
ANYTHING BUT THE (Ö)NORM… 21
Helen Bentley-Fox compares the old ÖNORM
standards and the new CEN standards.
THE FUTURE IS NOW!... 23
Stewart Boyle provides background to the RHI,
in this abridged excerpt from his new book.
A PRAGMATIC APPROACH TO
CONSUMER CONFIDENCE… 28
Riki Therivel manages the Oxfordshire Woodfuel
Programme, and is responsible for the OxLogs
programme to promote consumer confidence.
David Vickers talks to estate owner John Kelly about
the issues surrounding his biomass installation.
LESS HINDSIGHT… MORE FORE-
SIGHT… 34
Sam Whatmore comments on the case study.
QUALITY STANDARDS IN WOOD-
FUEL… 36
Kate Lee takes us through the quality standards
used in woodfuel and woodfuel suppliers obligations.
ENplus ACCREDITATION… 40
Bruno Prior takes an in-depth look at the ENplus
accreditation scheme.
BIOENERGY MEETS
TECHNOLOGY… 45
Seppo Huurinainen
explains how to
carry out quality
monitoring using
the MHG Systems
Biomass Manager
4
COMPETITION… 10
Win a free copy of The Sleeping Giant
Awakens… Bio-Energy In The UK

CONTRIBUTORS
Stewart Boyle
Kate Lee
Seppo Huurinainen
Principal Consultant,
South-East Wood
Fuels and author of
The Sleeping Giant
Awakens.
Kate works as a tester
for Wood Fuel Test-
Testing, based in
Mansfield and understands
the standards
like few others!
Managing Director,
MHG Systems Oy Ltd,
Finland, offering technical
solutions to improve
supply and logistics.
Bruno Prior
Anna Livesey
Helen Bentley-Fox
Managing Director,
Forever Fuels and
Chair of the REA Biomass
Heat group.
Anna is a Policy Advisor
to the MicroPower
Council representing
companies and
organisations in the
microgeneration sector.
Helen is the Woodsure
Accreditation
Manager, travelling
around the country
ensuring the quality
of woodfuel comes up
to standard.
Additional contributions from:
Riki Therivel, Oxfordshire Woodfuel Programme. http://www.oxlogs.com
5

INDUSTRY NEWS
Wood fuel supplier collaboration
Two wood fuel suppliers have collaborated to
improve their respective businesses and service
to customers.
Bowland Bioenergy (BB), based in Lancashire is
a wood fuel supplier providing wood chip and
wood pellets predominantly for commercial
biomass boilers. With many years of experience
in the forestry industry, directors Mike
Ingoldby and Ralph Assheton developed a vision
for improved biodiversity for Lancashire’s
woodlands through harvesting in under managed
woodland to contribute to the sustainable
supply of biomass.
Nottinghamshire Eco Fuels, based north of
Nottingham, is a biomass boiler installer and
wood fuel supplier and run by serial entrepreneur
Mark Thomas.
Both businesses had made great strides to
provide a professional service to customers,
with a significant focus on quality of product,
and quality of service. To ensure product quality
NEF invested in a complete laboratory and
dedicated staff for testing fuel to international
standards. Both are Woodsure plus accredited
with BB being the first chip producer
in the UK to be accredited by HETAS.
The decision to cooperate was based on a
number of factors:
the businesses were geographically separated
so as to not directly compete
the experience and skills that each had
lay largely in different operating areas and
thus complemented one another
It was believed that such collaboration would
benefit their respective businesses, their
customers, and the wider wood fuel industry.
NEF were able to glean important operational
methods by tapping into the many years of
experience BB has of the forestry industry.
This included methods to ensure chip
quality based on timber species and roundwood
size selection, and methods of chipping
which gave the best results. In particular, the
challenge for many wood chip suppliers is
the management of inventory, and how
round wood moisture content varies with
time and seasons.
In 2012 NEF took on a graduate to undertake
a long term project of measurement of moisture
content in round wood under differing
environmental conditions. Data from this
work has helped to better manage stocks of
round wood to meet customer demand. NEF
have also undertaken an extensive study into
different methods of wood fuel moisture
6

measurement.
Frustrated by the number of poorly conceived
and badly executed biomass installations for
which NEF were being asked to provide
fuel, they expanded their business in 2011 to
incorporate the skills to provide complete
commercial biomass systems. By providing a
complete biomass solution, NEF were able to
reduce the overall cost of ownership by considering
the type of fuel, the fuel delivery and
fuel handling at the biomass heating system
design stage. By getting the major success
factors identified and incorporated at the design
stage has allowed them to provide solutions
that work in accordance with expectation
and lead to delighted customers.
In NEF sharing their expertise in biomass boilers,
BB have been able to build on their extensive
experience of the supply of wood fuel, to
provide consultancy at the preliminary stage
of new biomass boiler installations. This has
resulted in Bowland being engaged in several
biomass boiler implementations as key partners.
Both businesses share the view that this embryonic
industry needs to more quickly adopt
best practice, quality standards, and provide a
high level of professional service to biomass
boiler customers. We believe the industry
would benefit greatly from more collaborations
of this type being forged in the future.
New Pellet Club
Bioenergy Technology Limited recently announced
the formation of a “Pellet Club” to
members.
Martin Curtis, sales and marketing manager
said “We supply and install biomass boilers
by trade but are starting up a wood pellet
club, where we will buy pellets in bulk and
distribute to club members at a lower cost
than if they purchased individually. Just
trying to take out the cost and hassle of
buying pellets. Obviously, members will
have to be based in the UK and we will find
out the quantity each member requires
beforehand and how often they require it”.
For more information visit www.bioenergy.org
or email admin@bioenergy.org
Biomass Installer Seminar
Forever Fuels invite you to a morning-only
biomass installer seminar at the Rutland Arms
Hotel in Newmarket on the 24th September
2013.
For more details visit the Forever Fuels website
or contact Joseph Spollen on 01628
509690 or email joseph@forever-fuels.com.
KEEP IN TOUCH...
Keep in touch with Woodfuel Magazine:
Web: http://www.woodfuelmagazine.co.uk
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/WoodfuelMag or @WoodfuelMag
Contact David at editor@woodfuelmagazine.co.uk with your news, views,
comments, images and articles about the magazine or industry.
7

MORE NEWS STORIES...
Earl of Malmesbury Warms To Woodchip
Energy Innovations are currently installing
a 160kW Gilles boiler in to the Earl Of
Malmesbury’s estate at Greywell in Hampshire.
Cumbria Business Wins Two Awards
In Two Weeks
M&E company Eastnor Ltd is installing the
pipework, heat exchangers, accumulator
tank and buffer tanks required to cover
the three properties.
The two awards were awarded for the
Truncator®, the brain child of Ambleside
based Richard Bowness inventor of the
innovative sawhorse. Truncator allows for
up 60 logs to be sawn in 60 seconds with
ease and safety.
The first award was presented at the Royal
Highland Show by the President Jamie
Williamson who commented “This award
is an important and influential accolade
for manufacturers and inventors”.
Richard commented “I was delighted that
the Truncator was recognised with this
prominent award, which is a fantastic
boost to the company as well as being testament
to its unique and effective design”.
Award #2 for Best Product came at the
CLA Game Fair at Ragley Hall, Warwickshire.
CLA Game Fair spokesperson Charlie
Thomas said "The Truncator won due to
the simplicity of the invention and the
positive impact it will have. It can be used
from a large estate to a private residence
and considerably reduce time, mess and
manual labour in the maintenance of
8
Installations On The Up, But...
As we report in this issue, as part of our
RHI analysis, installations are growing
steadily and as I write this I’m wondering
if the industry will be able to break
through the key milestone of 2,000 RHI
accredited installs by the end of August.
Whilst that would be a great achievement,

MORE NEWS STORIES...
and something to shout about, I’m also
hearing a growing concern that businesses
that are not historically connected to biomass,
are moving into this territory and
installing systems that do not quite meet
the grade. If this is true, the industry
needs to start pushing for more certification
of installations over the MCS 45kW
limit.
We seem to have a strange system at the
moment that RHI is paid based on small
(up to 200kW), medium (200kW - 1MW)
and large scale (>1MW) installations, yet
MCS accreditation is only needed for installations
up to 45kW. That leaves huge
scope for new businesses to start by installing
biomass systems greater than
45kW - typically large houses and estates.
Is there an argument to extend MCS up to
the 200kW breakpoint so that all RHI
small-scale installations are protected by
MCS? Would that work, or is there a betbetter
way to creating an approved standard?
Failing RHI…
It seems that Ofgem have carried out an
audit of 140 RHI applications, and the result
was that 46% of those failed.
That may not be good for the perception
of the industry; the non-domestic RHI is a
great scheme with relatively quick payback
periods… as long as those who are
applying can get access to the very financial
incentive that helped them make the
decision to go for renewable heat.
What did they fail on? Heat meters, one
example that I was told about included an
instance where the probe hadn’t even
been installed in the pipework. Another
was not noting the amount of fuel input
for self-suppliers.
Sea2Sky Planning Expansion
Currently at the planning stage are three
value-added biomass fuel manufacturing
facilities, offering sorting, screening and
drying.
The likely sites are Brighton, Glasgow and
Warrington, Richard Walton, MD of
Sea2Sky Energy UK Ltd told Woodfuel
Magazine “we have always had plans for
the Warrington facility, and due to the
demand that is building in Brighton and
Scotland there is an opportunity to build
facilities there”.
Bringing The Wood Heat Industry Together?
The Wood Fuel Suppliers Group (WSG)
was set up in 2011 under the umbrella of
Confor. The group has grown to around
40 members most of whom are involved
in the supply of wood fuel including logs,
pellets, briquettes and chips. At APF 2012
a new Steering Committee was formed
and a charter adopted outlining the aims
and objectives of the group.
The Steering Committee has proposed
that the future of the woodheat industry
is better served with a new association
called the Woodheat Association (WHA),
which will be separate to Confor. Membership
will be expanded to include not
9

only fuel suppliers, but also biomass appliance
installers.
The next meeting of the WFG is on 11 th
September in Frome, to coincide with
Confor’s Woodland Show at Longleat, at
which time the proposal for the new association
will be discussed.
Robert Bland, proposing the adoption of a
new trade association, and current Chair
of the WSG said “I believe there's a growing
need for wood heat installers and
woodfuel suppliers to come together in a
NEW trade association. End users are understandably
unsure of the quality standards
operating within the industry.
Participants have a duty to explain
why the industry has reputable players
who work together to ensure woodheat
installations operate effectively not just on
commissioning but well into the future.
As such, I would welcome all active installers,
woodfuel suppliers to come and join
the The Woodheat Association”.
The counter argument is that being affiliated
to Confor brings a number of benefits,
not least the any new trade association
would lack the ‘clout’ that the backing of
Confor would have.
It promises to be an interesting meeting,
with the debate sure to evoke some strong
views from both sides. However, whatever
happens, Woodfuel Magazine supports
any move to bring together the industry in
a move to provide a professional image
and improve consumer confidence in the
future.
More details regarding the meeting and
proposals are available from Woodsure.
Tel: 01179 582188
WIN A FREE COPY OF ‘THE SLEEPING GIANT AWAKENS…’
Woodfuel Magazine has a great opportunity to
win a free copy of Stewart Boyle’s new book
which is out on the 18th September.
We’ve got an abridged excerpt from the book
later in the magazine, and a special reader’s
offer - but you could win yourself a free copy
right here!
Answer the following five questions and send
your responses by 30th September 2013 to
editor@woodfuelmagazine.co.uk - the winner
will drawn at random and be contacted in due
course.
There is no cash prize alternative. Final decision of the
winner rests with Woodfuel Magazine.
Name two short rotation coppice (SRC)
tree-plant species.
What is the proposed new RHI tariff for
larger (above 1MW) wood heating boilers?
Are swimming pools allowed as heat
uses under the RHI and are there any
key caveats?
What is the energy content (gross) of a
tonne of Grade1 ENPlus wood pellets in
kWh?
What is the difference between underfed
hearth and step grate combustion
systems in terms of the fuel they can
use?
10

CONFERENCES
11

Industry
Comparison
Just how is commercial biomass doing against
other renewable and sustainable technologies?
David Vickers takes a quick look at the figures…
The stacked graph below shows a comparison of
the commerical biomass sector against other
sectors also eligible for RHI payments.
The graph is based on eligible heat generated
(kWh) for each installation type in each country.
Don’t be mislead - the graphs y-axis starts at
93%, and it is therefore simple to conclude that
in England just over 95% of eligible heat comes
from biomass, in Scotland this rises to almost 98%, and in Wales it’s over 99%.
When taking the totals across the three countries, commercial biomass accounts for 96.11% of the
eligible heat generated! Biomethane accounts for 2.68%, and “all solar collectors” accounting for
just 0.03%.
100%
99%
98%
97%
Biomethane and biogas combustion
(Biomethane)
Biomethane and biogas combustion (Biogas)
All Solar collectors
96%
All heat pumps
95%
All commercial biomass
94%
93%
England Scotland Wales
12

RHI
PAYMENTS
CAPACITY
If there’s one story that really shows the positive side of solid biomass and how the Government’s
Renewable Heat Incentive has helped the renewable industry, look no further than the
figures produced by Ofgem.
The RHI has been an amazing success story,
driving the incredible growth of the renewable
heat industry.
As the first issue of Woodfuel magazine went
to press, a significant moment in the market
for modern wood heating was about to be
passed [it was passed on the 2nd September
2013 - Ed.]. Reaching the first 2,000 wood
heating projects officially certified under the
RHI is a big moment and as our data analysis
shows, real returns on investment are happening.
It is a sign that project uptake is now accelerating
quickly and the market now understands
that this technology is for real.
Talking to fuel suppliers, boiler installers and
distributors across the UK recently, we have
noted a real spring in the step of companies
beginning to see substantial investment by
clients in projects across all sectors.
As Neil Harrison, Director at the distributors
re:heat, says “care homes and poultry farm are
13
the strongest growth areas, but we’re also
seeing the Scottish public sector coming
onboard”.
“Agriculture, and particularly poultry farms,
are our strongest area for take-up of biomass”,
comments Bew Lawrenson, Commercial
Manager for CleanEarth, and John Witt
from Dunster Biomass described the market
as “really buoyant”.
A Future Boom?
With £860 million allocated in the RHI by the
Coalition Government and substantial
amounts unspent, the next two years should
see a real boom in wood heating projects
across all sizes and sectors. We report on a
few of these in this issue as well as signs that
ESCOs are taking off for multiple projects.
While the bigger biomass market above 1MW
is slow and will be until the Government commits
a date for the proposed higher 2p/kWh
tariff, all other sectors are finally booming.

This situation is exemplified by one project in
Uist which is installing a 999kW system; specifically
because of the large scale commercial
biomass (>1MW) tariff being just 1p/kWh,
whereas the medium scale systems are at 5p/
kW (tier 1 payments). “The project originally
was for a 2MW system which would have resulted
in payments of roughly £30k, but with
this new system payments are closer to £130k”
reports Neil.
Considering Wood Fuel?
With a mixture of old players and new installer
entrants pushing up hard, pricing of boiler systems
is very competitive and the drive for improved
efficiency, simpler install systems, and
getting designs right the first time is firmly on.
The salutary tale later in this issue from the
Forest of Bere Estate (Grin and Bere It) reminds
us that some bad design and service is
still out there and clients really need to get
good experienced advice early on. This is a
repeated conclusion from bio-energy consultant
Stewart T Boyle in his new book: ‘The
Sleeping Giant Awakens: Bio-energy in the UK’.
He advises being: “very careful about researching
bio-energy on the internet. Type in the
words ‘wood pellets’, ‘biomass boilers’ or just
‘biomass’, and you will find a lot of claims by
companies with high SEO ranking or who have
bought specially placed advertising, but you
won’t necessarily find objective advice”. He
adds: “if you are intending to spend £20,000,
£100,000 or £500,000 and more on a 20-25-
year bio-energy investment, it is worth getting
and paying for decent advice from someone
who has walked the hard road before you.
Choose well and you will usually save a lot of
time and money”.
Despite a few bad projects which we will be
critically evaluating going forward - a selfcritical
industry is a responsible industry - there
are many happy wood heating clients, “we’re
14
Niel Nicholson of Nicholson Nurseries described using
woodfuel and getting the RHI payments as a “win-win”
situation.
saving about £2k by using woodchips over oil…
with about a 10 year payback period, so to me
it was win-win” commented Niel Nicholson of
Nicholson Nurseries.
KEY FIGURES (Based on Ofgem report
run on 20th August 2013)
On the following page you will find a series of
graphs based on Ofgem’s own data, that relate
to the RHI programme - only data relating to
solid biomass has been chosen.
The report was run on the 20th August 2013.
AT A GLANCE
£17.473 million in total RHI payments.
1,978 accredited installations.
93.70% of installations are solid biomass.
475.858MW of installed capacity.
(as at 29th August 2013).

Graphically Speaking…
RHI Key Performance Indicators
David Vickers took a look at the Ofgem RHI report and derived a few of the key indicators from it.
[Graphs based on report of the 29th August 2013]
400
350
300
358.064
Total installed capacity in MW by
country, (solid biomass only).
250
200
150
England
Scotland
Wales
100
90.159
50
27.635
0
Installed Capacity (MW)
Want to run the Ofgem report yourself?
Click > HERE <
15

£16,000,000.00
RHI payments to-date by country
and installation size.
£14,000,000.00
£332,835.81
£12,000,000.00
£10,000,000.00
£5,901,886.37
RHI Payments £ (Over 1MW)
£8,000,000.00
RHI Payments £ (200kW to
1MW)
RHI Payments £ (Up to 200kW)
£6,000,000.00
£4,000,000.00
£7,192,334.74
£342,755.22
£2,000,000.00
£746,649.41
£1,705,721.73
£149,884.64
£549,408.67
£-
£552,225.32
England Scotland Wales
16

120000000
100000000
98401818.3
Eligible heat generated in kWh
by country (up to 200kW installations).
80000000
60000000
England
Scotland
Wales
40000000
23321638.87
20000000
7735084.506
0
Eligible Heat Generated kWh (Installations: Up to 200kW)
160000000
140000000
120000000
144373589.3
Eligible heat generated in kWh
by country (200kW to 1MW
installations).
100000000
80000000
60000000
England
Scotland
Wales
40000000
20000000
16234808.87
12513819.41
0
Eligible Heat Generated kWh (Installations: 200kW to 1MW)
17

Anna Livesey, Policy Advisor to the
Micropower Council takes us through the
Domestic RHI scheme.
The Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive – a
household heating revolution
The long-awaited domestic Renewable Heat
Incentive (RHI) was finally announced in July
2013 marking the start of a household heating
revolution.
The scheme, set for launch in spring 2014, provides
payments to householders that generate
and use renewable energy (biomass, heat
pumps or solar thermal) to heat their homes.
The domestic phase of the scheme follows in
the footsteps of the non-domestic RHI which
launched in November 2011.
Whilst the RHI scheme is the first of its kind
and therefore required extensive consultation,
the exceptional length of time from inception
to fruition was a major point of criticism from
industry because of the uncertainty caused.
Hence the announcement was welcome news.
By increasing the generation of heat from renewable
sources (instead of fossil fuels), the
RHI will help the UK reduce greenhouse gas
emissions and meet targets for reducing the
effects of climate change. Overtime, as deployment
of individual technologies increases, the
overall costs will come down eventually making
them marketable without subsidy.
A brief history of the RHI
The concept of the RHI was first introduced
through the Energy Act 2008, then at the October
2010 Spending Review the coalition confirmed
commitment to the scheme. For the
non-domestic scheme (phase 1) a consultation
took place in March 2011 and the scheme was
implemented in November 2011. However,
householders had to wait much longer and the
domestic scheme (phase 2) was not consulted
on until September 2012. The outcome of the
consultation on the domestic scheme was finally
announced in July 2013.
How does it work?
A householder can receive payments on all
renewable heat generated for seven years for
the following kinds of renewable heating sys-
18

tems:
ASHP: 7.3 p/kWh
Biomass: 12.2 p/kWh
GSHP: 18.8 p/kWh
Solar Thermal: 19.2 p/kWh
For example, if a householder in a typical 3-
bed property installs a biomass boiler, they
would receive a payment of 12.2p/kWh. The
installation would cost around £12,000 and
the homeowner would receive RHI payments
of around £1,900 per year for seven years,
plus a further £200 in heating fuel savings
each year. Therefore the total benefit would
be around £2,100 per year with a payback
period of six years. Additionally, the homeowner
will continue to benefit from the fuel
savings for the lifetime of the system – which
is at least 15 years.
Who can apply?
The RHI is available to homeowners, private
and social landlords and self-build properties.
In addition, ‘legacy applicants’ will also be eligible;
householders with renewable heating
systems installed from 15 July 2009 can access
the payments. These applicants must ensure
all the other requirements of the scheme are
met.
first undertake a Green Deal Assessment; the
Green Deal is a Government scheme to promote
installation of energy efficiency
measures. The assessment looks at the energy
efficiency of a building and recommends improvements.
RHI applicants must install loft
insulation to 250mm and cavity wall insulation
if these are recommended by the Assessment.
The applicant will need to provide an updated
Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) to Ofgem
(the regulator) as proof that they have made
these necessary improvements in order to
receive RHI payments.
In addition, all installations must be Microgeneration
Certification Scheme (MCS) certified
and installed by an MCS certified installer in
order to be eligible for payments. For biomass
there are also certain air quality and sustainability
requirements.
3-bed property
currently using oil boiler
Cost of biomass installation £12,000
Size of system
kWh per annum
10kw
15,000kWh
RHI payments per annum £1,900
Fuel savings per annum £200
Payback period
6 years
How are the payments calculated?
Payments are made on each kWh of renewable
heat the installation generates. The heat
generated is worked out using
a ‘deeming ’calculation
that estimates the property’s
expected annual heat usage.
However, all installations
must be meter ready and
some systems will need to be
metered for evaluation. Consumers
can volunteer for a
‘Metering and Monitoring
Service Package’ to collect data, shared with
DECC and the installer. Volunteers will receive
£230 per year to have a heat pump monitored
and £200 per year to have their biomass installation
monitored.
RHI and the Green Deal
What are the requirements?
In order to access the RHI a householder must
19
The Green Deal loans householders funding
towards the cost of a renewable heating system
when it exists as part of a package of

measures recommended by the Green Deal
Assessment. The loan is repaid through the
household energy bills. The difference between
the energy bill before energy efficiency
improvements and the lower bill following
energy efficiency improvements make up the
payments (so the bill is no higher than before).
The Green Deal could be used by some householders
to part-finance a renewable heating
system and applicants to the RHI will also be
able to access Green Deal Finance.
In addition, some commercial arrangements
where third party providers could offer renewable
heating systems at a reduced upfront cost
to consumers (and in some cases for free) will
be made possible by the decision to make sure
that third-party owners can be eligible to claim
the RHI income stream. This is provided that
permissions have been sought from the property
owner, any tenants, and the third party
provider.
Budget management
The domestic RHI will be subject to a budget
management mechanism, the basic principle
of which will be a reduction of tariffs (known
as degression) if expenditure exceeds certain
thresholds. Therefore householders would be
wise to apply early for the scheme in order to
benefit from the highest tariffs. However, the
finite details of this budget mechanism are yet
to be agreed.
What next?
In between now and the domestic scheme
launch the Government is due to confirm the
budget management mechanism. In addition,
the early tariff review consultation response
for the non-domestic scheme will confirm the
‘Value for Money’ cap. This cap will impact the
solar thermal tariff rate for the domestic
scheme; if the cap does change the solar thermal
tariff could increase up to 21.7p/kWh.
Both the domestic scheme and any new tariffs
proposed for the non-domestic scheme will
come into implementation together in spring
2014.
Anna Livesey is a Policy Advisor for the Micropower
Council. The Micropower Council
represents companies and organisations active
in the microgeneration sector and campaigns
on behalf of its members for a genuine
mass market for small scale, low and zero
carbon electricity and heat generating technologies.
For more information visit
www.micropower.co.uk.
The domestic RHI in brief
Provides payments to householders who generate and use renewable energy
Eligible technologies are air source heat pumps, biomass, ground source heat
pumps and solar thermal
Available to homeowners, private and social landlords and self-build properties
Applicants must complete a Green Deal assessment and install loft insulation and
cavity wall insulation if recommended
Due for launch in spring 2014
20

Anything,
But The
(Ö)NORM!
Installers, customers and chip suppliers talk
about chip as being a G30, G50, P16B, P31.5 or
P45. What do these mean? How do you know
you are getting the right fuel or supplying the
right fuel? And why worry?
Why bother with standards?
When you go to a petrol station you have a
choice, diesel or petrol, and you make sure
you purchase the right fuel for your car. Less
attention seems to be paid when buying fuel
for a woodchip boiler. The new boiler requires
a certain standard of chip in order to operate
at maximum efficiency, it is the same thing.
Size is important
G30 and G50 are the old Austrian standards
based on Önorm M7133. These standards
were developed around 25 years ago in the
emerging woodfuel market to make sure the
boilers produced in Austria were designed for
the fuel they were being supplied.
These Austrian standards have been replaced
by a European standard EN14961-4. This
standard refers to four different classes of chip
for domestic and non-industrial biomass boilers:
P16A (really small and behaves more like a
pellet), P16B (similar to a G30), P31.5 (part
way between a G30 and a G50) and P45
(similar to a G50). These are approximations
but all new boilers and any company that continues
to produce boilers will advise what EN
standard is appropriate for your boiler.
Any reputable supplier of woodchip should
understand the size classes and be able to advise
you if they can provide chip to this EN
standard. It is not uncommon for new installations
to still state that a boiler is either a G30
boiler or a G50 boiler.
The new EN standards are tighter than the old
Önorm standard, producing a more consistent
chip. The extra size classes have helped to
21

educe the use of the term “it’s a fussy G50
boiler” since these new size classes accommodate
this ‘fussiness’.
Fuel quantity
You can buy fuel in three ways: weight, volume
or heat. Moisture content directly effects
the calorific value of the fuel and so it is essential
that the supplier is able to advise accurately
on the moisture content of their fuel. There
is around 20% more heat in a tonne of chip at
30% moisture content and a tonne of chip at
40% moisture content.
With weight and volume it is important that
the supplier states the moisture content he is
delivering. When buying by weight, heavy
chip means you are buying more water and
less calorific value, your supplier should make
an adjustment for wetter chip. If buying on a
volume basis, your supplier should still provide
you with a moisture content for the chip and
confirm the cubic meters of chip delivered.
Again if the chip is wetter than your boiler
requires you will lose efficiency and calorific
value.
If buying on a heat basis, it can be heat received
or heat used. With heat received it is
essential that the supplier has a good handle
on the moisture content and informs you of
this for each delivery. It is up to the customer
to maintain and check their boiler to ensure it
is running efficiently and check that the fuel is
delivered as stated. If it is on heat used, the
heat meter readings are taken, there is a seasonal
efficiency adjustment to be made and
the onus is on the supplier to ensure that the
chip is good quality.
Test your supplier
I have heard chipper operators say, “I’ve got a
G30 screen in the chipper and so it is G30 I’m
producing”. This is not necessarily the case; in
order to consistently produce the right quality
of chip, the producer needs to understand the
feedstock, the chipper, constantly monitor the
quality of the chip being produced and maintain
their machinery. A chip producer should
have some sort of quality management system
in place and some way of testing to ensure
that their fuel is to the right quality. Most
good producers will have test results from
testing centres or are certified by Woodsure /
HETAS.
Transition time: the move from Önorm to EN
standards
Suppliers should ask their customers if they
request a G30 or G50, to talk to their installers
and ask them for the modern EN standard.
The supplier may need to explain to the customer
that the Önorm standards have been
withdrawn
Woodchip is a modern renewable fuel and the
EN standard provides standardisation of the
fuel that will ensure boilers will operate efficiently.
There is still seems to be confusion
between the old Önorm standards and these
new EN standards, but we need to make the
transition. The transition has been slow mainly
because of lack of awareness and information
to suppliers, customers and installers.
Testing the fuel is part the way to proving the
quality of the fuel, having a good quality management
system in place that incorporates
testing will demonstrate consistency and continual
improvement processes.
Helen Bentley-Fox, Woodsure - the UK’s
woodfuel accreditation scheme.
For more information contact
Helen@woodsure.co.uk or call 01179
582188.
22

The Future Is Now…
New Book Reveals The State Of Bio-Energy In The UK
With 80,000 commercial biomass boilers
by 2020, 15-20% energy contribution
from bio-energy by 2030-40, anti bioenergy
and ‘carbon debt’ arguments used
by Green NGOs criticised as ‘losing the
plot’, author Stewart Boyle is not afraid
of pulling a few punches in his analysis of
the bio-energy market.
In this excerpt from ‘The Sleeping Giant
Awakens: Bio-Energy In The UK’, Stewart
sets out the background to the RHI.
The driver for UK policy intervention in
the renewable heat market has been the
European Union’s (EU) Renewable Energy
Directive (RED). This mandated minimum
renewable contributions for each country
to meet an overall 15% target for the EU.
The UK target is 15% by 2020, coming
from a starting position of less than 3%.
Both officials and politicians quickly realised
that all sectors of the economy needed
to contribute to achieve this. Sector
targets for power, transport and heating
were hence developed and associated
policy measures developed for each.
For big power, the measures are the longstanding
Renewables Obligation (RO),
with Feed-in-Tariffs (FITs) for small-scale
power. For transport the Renewable
Transport Fuels Obligation (RTFO) is in
place; while belatedly for heating the Renewable
Heat Incentive (RHI) came into
legal force in late 2011. The tariffs as of
April 2013 are shown overleaf. This is for
‘commercial’ projects only. Tier 1 payments
are based on 1314 operating hours
at full load equivalent, after which point
lower Tariff 2 payments are made. The
domestic RHI programme was announced
as this book went to press (see later).
According to Eric Scherer, a former civil
servant who guided the RHI through Government,
achieving buy-in from the Treasury
on the RHI was “a major breakthrough
for DECC officials, as getting enough air
time and political focus for renewable
heating was not easy”. Initially, the fact
23

Technology Description Scale (kW) Tariffs (p/kWh)
Small biomass. Solid biomass including
solid biomass
Less than 200kWth. [Tier 1] 8.6
[Tier 2] 2.2
Medium biomass. contained in municipal
solid waste (incl.
200kWth and above; less
than 1,000kWth.
[Tier 1] 5.0
[Tier 2] 2.2
Large biomass. CHP).
1,000kWth and above. 2
Small heat pumps. Ground-source heat Less than 100kWth. 8.2
Heat pumps.
pumps; water source
heat pumps; deep
100kWth and above. 7.2
geothermal 100kWth
and above.
All solar thermal Solar thermal collectors.
Less than 200kWth. 10 – 11.3
collectors.
Biomethane and
biogas combustion.
7.3
Biomethane injection
and biogas combustion,
except from
landfill.
Biomethane all scales,
biogas combustion, except
from landfill gas.
that the cost of the RHI would need to
come from general taxation, rather than
FITs on gas and electricity prices, was
viewed as a barrier to political adoption.
fact, Treasury now views all support for
new renewable technologies (and other
low-carbon options such as nuclear) as
subsidies, and require transparency however
the money is collected and spent.
The RHI is effectively a feed-in-tariff (FIT)
for heat – offering 20-year income
for the commercial sector and as currently
proposed, 7-year income streams for the
domestic sector. It is the main mechanism
for ensuring that:
A target of 11%-12% of UK heat
from renewable heat technologies
(bio-energy, solar, heat pumps, biogas
and biomethane) by 2020 -
38TWh of energy.
110,000 commercial and public sector
installations by 2020 (25% of
demand in these sectors).
13,000 industrial installations.
An undisclosed number of domestic
installations.
Assuming that 65% of the above targets
are met by bio-energy, this equates to
80,000 biomass heating projects. As this
book went to press, progress on the RHI
had been slow but was accelerating. By
the end of July 2013, more than 2,000 renewable
heat projects had been certified
under the RHI, of which 94% were solid
biomass heating projects. A mere £18 million
of the £860 million available in the
budget had been dispersed through the
commercial RHI. Only £25 million in total
of RHI payments was paid out in the 2012-
13 financial year out of a budget of £133
million (this included special grants for
social landlords and domestic applicants
(RHPP)). The remainder was paid back to
the Treasury. According to Eric Scherer
“With hindsight, the cut in the largest biomass
plant tariffs from 2.6p/kWh to 1p/
24

kWh had a bigger effect than anticipated,
and clearly needs to be reviewed”. This
was a point conceded by DECC in its 2012
review into possible degression and
changes to tariffs. A new 2p/kWh tariff
was proposed in June 2013.
The slower uptake of projects reflects a
number of factors, including a struggling
UK economy, low confidence among investors
due to mixed messages by the
Government, an overly bureaucratic system
for certification, and the amount of
time that bio-energy heating schemes
take to complete. Unlike the weeks required
to get the go ahead for a domestic
solar PV scheme and the three days needed
to install it on a domestic roof, an
equivalent wood pellet scheme might take
3 to 4 months to design and install in a
domestic situation, and up to 12 months
for a bigger commercial scheme.
Building consumer awareness has also
taken longer than expected, mainly due to
the lack of a domestic RHI programme. It
is hard to get media stories about the
Commercial RHI and much easier to run
stories of domestic renewable opportunities.
The domestic RHI was delayed until
Spring 2014, a significant set-back for boiler
installers and developers and more indicative
of DECC trying to save money for
the Treasury. Tariffs were finally announced
in mid-July 2013 with the 7-year
tariffs shown overleaf.
Reactions to the domestic tariffs were
mixed. Simon Beach of A Greener Alternative
indicated that:
“while we are a little disappointed in the
level of incentives especially for biomass,
we are pleased that at long last our customers
can start to come off the fence –
whether this will motivate the market as a
whole only time will tell”.
Peregrine Nicholls of Wessex Biomass did
some calculations on a larger 5-bedroom
property and concluded that: “based on
competing with oil and after 4 years of
waiting my first impression is that I think
we might just have the RHI we needed”.
Overall however, the delays reinforce the
impression of a lack of government commitment
and further undermine public
and industry confidence. The domestic
sector may now begin to grow but this is
from a very low base.
Despite the slow start, the RHI is a welldesigned
scheme and offers a real opportunity
for the bioenergy heating market
and other renewable heat technologies to
expand rapidly. Eric Scherer of BDO notes
that a number of European countries are
seeking to replicate the RHI and that “as
confidence in the security of wood fuel
supply and the availability of RHI monies
grows, so the number of deals will accelerate.
BDOs business of arranging finance
for renewable heating ESCOs or multiple
projects really took off in late 2012”.
Of the 60-plus RHI-related feasibility studies
carried out by the author over an 18-
month period, the average rate of return
on investment was 17%, with a range between
11% and 35%. These are attractive
rates of return by any measure. Confi-
25

Image: David Vickers
Technology p/KWh
dence that
the Government
won’t
Biomass 12.2
suddenly remove
the RHI
ASHP 7.3
GSHP 18.8 or cut the
tariff, as it
Solar Thermal 19.2 did with the
Solar PV tariffs,
remains an issue of perception by clients,
but the situation is very different
from solar PV FITS roll-out where the cash
disappeared very quickly. There is plenty
of RHI cash available so the chances of the
scheme being scrapped prior to 2015 are
very low.
The big growth in the wood boiler market
has been for boilers in the ‘up to 200kW’
range. Due to the ‘sweet spot’ in tariffs at
this capacity, many companies are offering
boiler systems packaged in a container
with integral fuel silos. Some are effectively
offering ‘free’ boiler systems plus a 20%
reduction in heating oil or LPG fuel costs,
in return for them keeping the RHI income
streams. For organisations without access
to capital, this is a relatively painless way
of getting carbon reductions and some
reduction in fuel costs.
Some of the main messages on the RHI are
as follows:
cellent and provide a serious indexlinked
rate of return which can’t be
matched elsewhere.
Clients need to commit and move
forward on projects to be sure of
accessing this cash as we do not
know the support situation after the
next General Election in 2015.
The scheme is now working quite
well, albeit being rather bureaucratic
in the certification process.
Clients do need to take experienced
advice on issues such as boiler sizing,
heat meter requirements and
other key aspects of the RHI criteria
while designing their wood heating
systems.
BOOK OFFER...
Woodfuel Magazine is pleased
to report that the new book
by Stewart Boyle The Sleeping
Giant Awakens - Bioenergy In
The UK will be published on
the 18 th September 2013.
The book is priced at £9.99 + £2.80p&p for the
hard copy, and £8.99 for the digital download.
However, readers can get £2 off the price of
the book by using the code WM2013SGA7.
Visit www.oneplanetmedia.co.uk/OPMpublications
for more details.
SAVE
£2
There is plenty of cash available
from the RHI pot at least for the
next two years.
In many instances the rates of return
available from the RHI are ex-
Stewart Boyle delivers a talk at the
Surrey Hills Woodfuel Conference.
26

Woodfuel Magazine exists to promote and
support the wood heat industry:
Woodchip
Wood pellets
Logs
Briquettes
Forestry / SRF
Biomass harvesting
Woodfuel suppliers
Boiler installers
Biomass consultants
M&E engineers
Equipment manufacturers
Software, technology solutions
Power / heat generation
End-users
Find out how you can advertise in the magazine,
or find out more about other services
that the magazine offers:
Corporate / editorial / PR photography
Videography
Handbooks and brochures
Contact editor@woodfuelmagazine.co.uk for
more information or to request an advertising
pack.
http://www.woodfuelmagazine.co.uk
27

A Pragmatic Approach To
Consumer Confidence
Image: David VIckers
Up in Oxfordshire there’s something of a revolution
in woodfuel quality standards. Woodfuel
Magazine spoke to Riki Therivel to find
out more.
Forestry Commission England provide information
on the background to woodland cover
and wood fuel for the South East; the latest
version (at the time of writing) is July 2013.
from which the following statistics were taken.
The South East & London wood market update
showed that there was 9.9% woodland cover
across England, but that rose to 15.6% across
the South-East and London (although the last
time I checked, London was in the South East,
so from now on I'll refer to it as the South East
unless I specifically need to identify London -
Ed.).
The South East has a majority of broadleaf
trees with 82%, or 268,000ha coverage, whilst
the remaining 18% / 58,000ha is conifer. This
is quite interesting from a woodfuel perspective
as it could suggest that this broadleaf timber
might be better utilised as logs rather than
being chipped for wood chip; so with that in
mind I set out to find how much the end-user
would be paying for hardwood firewood logs,
and whether it was better to use it as logs, or
chip.
What my
research showed was not that the price of logs
is incredibly variable, from £80-£130 per m 3 ,
but that this is one area of woodfuel that appears
unregulated, and potentially confusing,
with little in the way of standards being applied,
with logs being sold by the netted bag,
the half-pallet, the pallet, 1 cubic metre, or 1.2
cubic metre, by the barrow load, loose and any
number of other permutations; add in to that
mix 100% hardwood, 100% softwood
("economy mix"), or any percentage in between,
kiln-dried and air-dried, and it's no
wonder that consumers could get a little confused.
Advice such as "all wood has roughly the same
calorific value" may be true, but I'd rather burn
Beech or Hazel in my open fire, than Horse
Chestnut. Not all fires are created equally, afafter
all.
So where does the consumer stand? There is
good work being done by the likes of Woodsure,
for example, and there is the EuroHeat /
HETAS route added to which there are locally
inspired co-operatives trying to present a clear
28

and simple system for log sales in their locality,
such as the Oxfordshire Woodfuel Programme.
I spoke to Riki Therivel about the
project and how it aims to bolster consumer
confidence within the region.
I started by asking Riki what OxLogs was, “it
came about for a number of reasons really, but
the primary one was to provide a level of confidence
to local consumers of woodfuel - specifically
logs, in this case. We held our first meetmeeting
with twelve local log suppliers, and
agreed that some standard was needed to
bring a level of professionalism into the market”
With agreement reached on this first step, the
next step was perhaps not quite so simple, as
Riki put it “should the confidence to consumers
be given through a standard, or through transparency?
And who was going to fund it?”. The
issue of funding was clearly an issue and the
decision was taken to make a £50 charge to
join the OxLogs scheme and with it the ability
to use the OxLogs logo, “even with that
charge, there’s not enough in it to allow me to
go round and check the suppliers, so it’s a trust
-based system”.
I was slightly concerned that they had gone to
the trouble of creating a ‘standard’, or perhaps
an ‘expectation’ of what a log load should look
like, but without systematic checking, I wondered
how the scheme would police itself, Riki
however was ahead of me, “those suppliers
that are part of the scheme are listed on the
website and if a customer is not happy with
their supplied load, they can call me directly
and I’ll take it up with the supplier”.
The supplier for their part have to guarantee
that they will provide transparent and accurate
information about the wood they sell,
which can then be labelled using the label
shown below.
It’s a simple system, based on trust and honesty,
and for all it’s inherent weaknesses it is a
good, pragmatic approach to building consumer
confidence and providing a level of arbitration.
volume > m 3 This load contains at least 95% of the
stated volume, tossed (not stacked)
moisture
content
< 25 % At least 90% of this load is < 25% moisture
content, and the rest of the load is
< 30% moisture content
Ready to burn
type of
wood
lenGth of
wood
□ hardwood
□ softwood
□ mixed
< inches
At least 98% of this load is of the stated
type of wood
At least 95% of this load is at or less
than the stated length
The Trust for Oxfordshire's Environment's (TOE2) OxLogs standard aims to increase customers' certainty about the
quantity and quality of firewood that they buy; and over time to improve the quality of firewood produced in Oxfordshire.
It is NOT a guarantee by TOE2: rather it is a voluntary, trust-based scheme signed up to by firewood providers.
Providers who use the OxLogs logo agree to give clear and honest information; in turn they can use the logo and are
listed on TOE2's list of firewood providers (www.oxonwoodfuel.org.uk/oxlogs). If you have any concerns about firewood
with an OxLogs logo, please contact manager@oxonwoodfuel.org.uk.
29

30
John Kelly, end-user, Forest Of Bere Estate

GRIN AND
BERE IT
Words & images: David Vickers.
Using woodfuel to heat his home was
the perfect solution for John Kelly, owner
of the 1300-acre Forest of Bere Estate
- but did it live up to expectations.
Woodfuel Magazine was invited by John to
talk about his experiences with biomass
heating, “use me as a case study!” he says.
The Forest of Bere Estate includes around
450 acres of broadleaf and coniferous woodland
and the decision to incorporate a woodfuel
boiler to handle the heating for his
dream home was an obvious one, when it
was built a few years ago. That decision lead
to a number of issues, but despite all the
problems, he remains positive and upbeat
about biomass; but before we delve into the
issues, I asked him where we stood at the
moment… “well, I’ve got a biomass boiler
that barely heats half the house, in fact I’ve
had to back it up with a gas boiler that is a
quarter of the size, sits on the wall, and
heats everything without any problems. In
fact, I don’t actually need the woodfuel boiler
at all now”.
This then, is a story that the woodfuel industry
does not need, and is precisely the sort of
thing that it needs to learn from. I asked
John what he would do if he could turn the
clock back and start again from scratch…
31

“hire a good consultant from day one. I’ve got
one now, Sam [Whatmore] is bloody brilliant!
Having someone like Sam from day one would
have been worth it. If it had cost me £10,000 in
consultancy, I would have saved that five times
over at least”, he says ruefully.
A GREAT IDEA…
A Gilles boiler was installed, and on reflection,
the first problem was that “the installers basically
just handed over the keys once it was
installed… no-one actually sat me down and
explained what it was going to be like. I admit I
was a bit naïve, but it’s not like a gas, or oil,
boiler system”.
What John was faced with at this stage was a
boiler that had been specified, and fitted, yet
at just 49kW it appeared to be seemingly inadequate.
“The simple issue, that everyone has
now come to a consensus about, is that we do
not have a big enough boiler. We have a 49kW
boiler, and it should have been around 75-
95kW”
However, at the time attention was turned to
the pipework, claiming that it had been put in
wrongly. The pipework was duly changed... it
didn’t solve the problem.
The fuel has also been blamed as being out of
specification for the boiler, and John has since
been careful to utilise the services of an established
and accredited fuel provider - so that
can be ruled out.
Why not replace the boiler with a larger system?
“It would have been better to install a
much larger boiler system with a view to installing
a district heating system to link my
son’s home and another building together. We
could have got rid of the LPG from them as
well. As it is, the boiler can’t be replaced because
we can’t get it out”.(the boiler room has
been built around the boiler, and the boiler
room is subterranean, with only a standard
doorway for access).
John swings open the doors to the fuel store,
and it takes me a moment to take in the scene
as I was expecting to see a pile of woodchip,
but in order to see that John has to pull out a
‘scoop’. The original idea had been to deliver
The boiler room, showing the Gilles boiler and the pipework on the rear wall that was changed.
32

The fuel store entrance at the Forest of Bere. The ‘scoop’ at the front had to be built specially once it was realised that the
telehandler bucket wouldn’t fit through the doorway.
the chip into the fuel store using a telehandler
bucket… only the bucket wouldn’t fit through
the doorway as it was too wide. The scoop had
to be built with flared sides to prevent chip
being spilt during delivery.
“The design of the logistics—nobody thought
through what you needed of the store, how
the wood was going to be delivered, was it
going to be delivered in a Manitou with a
bucket, how did the bucket get the stuff in; the
sweep arms and auger mechanism, how did
fit, how was it going to work?”
It’s a catalogue of errors, and these sort of
issues should not have occurred in the first
place yet John remains adamant, “it was absolutely
the right decision, it was the execution
that was wrong. So if we went right back to
the start, 5 or 6 years ago when this was just a
field, I would still take the same decision”.
I asked him what his advice would be to prospective
users of woodfuel systems, and he
was quite categorical about seeking out professional
advice from day one.
“The main thing I would do know, with all the
benefit of hindsight, is… I would seek out a
consultant, somebody who knew about woodchip
and I would put him right in between the
guy that’s doing the design and the guy that’s
doing the installation; and if it cost me a bit of
money, in retrospect, it would be worth it.”
“Nobody sat us down and talked to us, you
need a day on what you are doing going biomass,
you need to do this, this, this… do you
understand the implications?”
With Sam Whatmore now on-board, I was intested
in Sam’s view of what this meant for
the industry - overleaf...
33

“Less Hindsight… And More Foresight”
A Comment Piece by Sam Whatmore.
Whilst for John Kelly there is only hindsight
now, for those people who are considering
installing wood fuel heating foresight is much
more beneficial: the time to seek advice is as
early on in the process as possible. As the
previous article explains, there were a catalogue
of mistakes at Bere Forest Estate which
were – sadly – all preventable had advice been
taken at the right time. In some ways, our
involvement came too late in the day and all
we could do was to try to rectify the problems
rather than prevent the mistakes.
The answer is to use a specialist biomass consultant
to provide an overview of all aspects of
the project from day one – someone with a
comprehensive understanding of the key elements
of a successful install. This should include
wood fuel self supply options, fuel storage,
handling and delivery, fuel quality, project
planning, district heat network design, selection
of the most suitable technology and installer
for the site, M + E contractor and design,
maximising RHI, staff training and handover,
long term operation of the boiler…..and so
on…! There is more to a project than just the
supply and install of the boiler, and the component
parts need to fit together on the particular
site. It is important that this advice is
taken from someone who is not trying to sell a
boiler or other hardware – they should be impartial
as to the best design solution and the
fuel type (pellet, chip or log).
Although there are obviously common factors
from one site to another, it can be a mistake to
assume that what works on one site will be
best for another.
At Forest Fuels we have been advising on biomass
installations for many years, and in total
the team has worked on over 400 projects
with over 100MW of installed capacity.
Through this wide experience we have
seen many different options and have a good
sense of what will work best (and what won’t!)
on a particular site
Perhaps for John Kelly, the main flaw was that
the woodheating installation was a minor part
of a substantial new build project: the client
understandably thought that a construction
company could deliver all the component
parts of the build. However, whilst wood heatheating
is now a mainstream technology, companies
undertaking a few installs as part of
their core construction business do not have
the experience or understanding to get the
overview design right. They may be good at
physically building or installing things, but they
often don’t have the breadth of experience to
design the best solution.
The conclusion is to seek specialist advice as
early in the process as possible. As borne out
by John’s experience, money well-spent at the
start on good advice can be saved many times
over….
Sam Whatmore. Is a founder & director of
Forest Fuels who operate across England,
providing woodfuel and consultancy services.
Telephone: 01409 281977
34

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35

Image: D. Vickers
QUALITY
STANDARDS
IN WOODFUEL
Kate Lee is a tester from Wood Fuel Testing Limited, and in this article she provides
an overview of the relevant standards regarding woodchip, wood pellet
and hog fuel.
Our increasing awareness of the environmental
damage caused by our use of fossil
fuels has led to growing interest in using
wood as a sustainable, renewable, low
carbon alternative. Wood
is a major source of renewable
heat energy and,
when burned efficiently, it
produces virtually no
smoke and gives off significant
heat.
The government’s
Renewable Heat
Incentive is driving the
adoption of renewable
heating technologies, such
as biomass boilers.
In order for the wood to
be used to produce heat
efficiently in an appliance
such as a biomass boiler it
has to meet specific quality
standards. Standards are required to
describe biomass fuels, and testing gives
confirmation of adherence to standards.
In order to ensure quality, it is necessary
to regularly sample and test fuel to ensure
36
that it meets customer expectations, appliance
requirements and product description
by incorporating testing into a quality
management system.
“Even with a specific
form of fuel, such as
wood chips, there can
be major differences in
characteristics and
properties between difdifferent
batches
chipped using different
chippers, from different
material, with different
moisture content”
logs.
In 2010 the European
standards (CEN) for the
general requirement of
wood fuels for nonindustrial
use (EN 14961-1)
were ratified.
These replaced
commonly used
Standards such as DIN
(German) and Önorm
(Austrian)
standards,
which have now been formally
withdrawn.
These
European standards incorporate
the main types of
fuel which include wood
chips, wood pellets, wood
briquettes and firewood
Biomass boilers are designed to take a
specific type of fuel. The wider the variation
in the fuel, the more control is required
in both the feed mechanisms and

combustion control systems. If fuel is provided
to a boiler that is outside of the design
specification, the system will suffer
from problems. These could be as small as
to consume more fuel than expected, to
the boiler stopping working, parts breaking,
premature wear, soot and tars being
created in flue systems and harmful emissions
being emitted. The fuel quality is
therefore critical to its successful use and
cost effectiveness in a boiler. The producer
must have a robust quality control system,
and expertise in its manufacture and
testing to ensure quality.
The standards for wood chip are defined
by EN 14961. The two key parameters
which affect the quality are moisture content
and particle sizes. The current recognised
standard for wood pellets is EN+.
This ensures that the key parameters of
moisture level, size, mechanical durability
and ash content are all within tightly controlled
parameters.
Both wood chip and wood pellet fuel have
an important place in providing energy for
biomass boilers.
Wood Chip:
Wood chip is manufactured from virgin
timber using a specialised biomass wood
chipper. The drying process (seasoning) is
usually done naturally outdoors before
chipping occurs.
The production of wood chip for biomass
boilers is more scientific than is often
acknowledged:
Even with a specific form of fuel, such as
wood chips, there can be major differ-
37
ences in characteristics and properties between
different batches chipped using difdifferent
chippers, from different material,
with different moisture content
This means that while it is all eminently
usable, one batch will allow a particular
piece of equipment to operate according
to specification, but another may cause
blockages in the fuel feed line, inefficient
Poorer quality woodchip such as this from a standard
arboricultural wood chipper could cause problems with the
boiler.
operation, emissions, condensation in the
flue, or automatic shut down of the equipment
as it moves outside its design operating
regime. In different equipment, however,
the second batch of fuel may be perfectly
acceptable. (Biomass Energy Centre)
Fuel moisture content is the critical factor
in fuel energy content. Incorrect moisture
content for an appliance will create issues
of incomplete combustion, corrosive gasses,
smoke, tars, chimney fires and appliance
damage. Wet fuel is a common customer
complaint, and can represent poor
value for money to the customer as they
pay for water, not energy.
Image: David Vickers.

The definitive way of measuring moisture
content is by oven drying at 105°C. The
sample is weighed before being placed in
an oven, and the weight monitored until it
loses no more weight thus the water content
has been evaporated. A calculation is
made showing the percentage of water by
weight that was in the original sample
(wet basis).
Biomass Boilers suitable for wood chip will
specify wood chip to a particular particle
size. Out of specification chip will block
augers and rotary valves, and break gearboxes.
Excess fine particles can create
inefficient combustion, smoke and fly ash.
Boiler owners will typically hold fuel suppliers
responsible for boiler breakdowns,
and having no accepted quality control
system in place leaves the door open for
and the weights of the different fractions
determined. The results are compared
against the Standards.
To produce chip to Standards, specific biomass
chippers are required where the output
desired is a specifically
shaped and sized chip. This is
in contrast to arboricultural
chippers where the aim is bulk
reduction. As a consequence
arboricultural chippers are not
suitable for making quality
wood fuel.
The difference between woodchip (l) and hog fuel (r) is clear to see here.
Image courtesy of Eija Alakangas, VTT Technical Research of Finland.
costly consequential loss and repair bill
claims.
The testing of the particle size distribution
is done using laboratory equipment consisting
of a number of sieves each with
different sized holes. These are shaken in
a horizontal plane for a prescribed period
38
Hog fuel
Hog fuel is defined as
Crushed/shredded wood in the
form of pieces of varying size
and shape produced by crushing with
blunt tools such as rollers, hammers or
flails (EN 14588). Hog fuel tends to be very
dry because it is often made from recycled
timber and the resulting fuel is not of a
consistent size or shape so screening is
often required prior to use.

Wood Pellets:
Wood pellets are made by compressing
dry sawdust under pressure until the lignin
softens and binds the material together;
and can be made from many different
types of biomass, including straw, as well
as wood. However, most of these nonwood
pellets are not suitable for use in
many pellet boilers or stoves, and certainly
not most domestic systems. This is as a
result of the ash properties which can give
rise to clinker formation and sometimes
corrosion of boiler parts.
Good quality pellets provide a highly uniform
fuel which is especially good for
smaller boilers, and are almost exclusively
used for domestic and small commercial
installations.
Pellet certification includes quality classes
A1 and A2 that are also implemented via
ENplus. Class A1 is the premium quality
used in private household boilers or
stoves. A1 pellets produce the least
amount of ash and meet the highest requirements.
Sale of wood fuel
Suppliers need to be mindful of their obligations
under the trade descriptions act
and sale of goods act. Both require sellers
to accurately describe their fuel and the
quantities sold in. In the case where a
problem arises, the customer has legal
protection to challenge the validity of the
claims made about the fuel. In particular,
‘wet chip’ is a regular customer complaint.
In our experience, when we have investigated
such claims, it is almost universally
the case that there are shortcomings in
the supplier’s quality testing procedure.
So whilst adoption of formal Standards is
highly desirable, it is optional, whereas
compliance with sales and description legislation
is not.
Conclusion
The most important consideration when
using biomass as a fuel, is to match the
fuel to the boiler. There are many different
boilers, all of which will require a specific
quality of fuel in order to run efficiently.
To ensure adherence to Standards, quality
testing has to form an integral part of a
fuel supplier’s quality management system.
Only with a robust quality management
system can a fuel supplier make accurate
claims about their fuel, comply
with legislation, and deliver value to the
customer.
Kate Lee is a tester at Wood Fuel Testing,
an independent laboratory for the testing
of wood fuels based in Mansfield.
Contact Kate to discuss testing and wood
fuel standards via email or telephone at
kathryn@woodfueltesting.co.uk or 01623
494333.
39

The ENplus quality certification
scheme sets out the measures
that wood pellet producers and
suppliers (or "traders" as ENplus
calls them) should take to ensure
the pellets reach you in the best
condition. The scheme, which
was adopted by the European
Pellet Council in January 2011, is
an important step in recognising
wood pellets as an energy commodity.
You can find the requirements
for producers and
traders in the ENplus manual,
which can be downloaded from
the website of the European Pellet
Council (EPC).
Quality Classes
ENplus
Accreditation:
What does it signify?
Bruno Prior from Forever Fuels takes an in-depth
Image: D. Vickers.
look at this certification scheme.
40
ENplus provides an international
assurance scheme to replace the
numerous national standards. As
wood pellets are an internationally-traded
commodity, ENplus
enjoys the support of large parts
of the European pellet sector.
There are three quality classes:
ENplus-A1, ENplus-A2 and EN-B.
The specifications are based on
the European standard, EN
14961-2, with a few important
refinements. ENplus-A1 is the
highest grade.
The table (opposite page) provides
the pellet properties, their
threshold values and the testing
standards set out in the ENplus
manual.

Property Unit ENplus-A1 ENplus A2 EN- B
Testing
Standard
Diameter D mm 6 or 8 6 or 8 6 or 8 EN16127
Length L mm 3.15≤L≤40 3 3.15≤L≤40 3 3.15≤L≤40 3 EN16127
Moisture content
M
w-% 1 ≤10 ≤10 ≤10 EN14774-
1
Ash Content A w-% 2 ≤0.7 ≤1.5 ≤3.0 EN14775
(550ºC)
Mechanical Durability
DU
w-% 1 ≥97.5 ≥97.5 ≥96.5 EN15210-
1
Fines (

Quality control of whole supply chain
The emphasis of the scheme is on the
whole chain, from forest to customer including
production, storage and transport
all the way to the end user. Wood pellet
quality extends beyond meeting the specification
on the occasional sample taken at
the factory. It's about managing the process
to minimise the risk that the quality
will fall below the expected standard,
from one end of the chain to another. The
way that the wood pellets are delivered is
just as important as the way they are produced;
hence ENplus provides separate
accreditation for producers and suppliers.
Bulk wood pellets only benefit from
ENplus quality assurance when every actor
in the supply chain is certified for the tasks
that they perform. If you want a blown
delivery of ENplus wood pellets, you must
have pellets produced by an ENplus producer
and supplied by an ENplus trader. If
you take a delivery from a company that is
not accredited as an ENplus trader, it
doesn't matter whether the producer was
ENplus certified, you are not getting
ENplus-assured wood pellets. Without
this, you have no security that the wood
pellets, however good they were at the
factory, will not be mis-handled by the
supplier. What's the point of paying for
the best wood pellets and then taking no
care over how they get to you?
Similarly, a blown delivery by an ENplus
trader is only ENplus-assured if the pellets
are ENplus-certified from an ENplus producer.
Some confusion still exists and less
scrupulous suppliers will exploit the lack of
consumer knowledge. The customer may
think that they are getting the benefits of
ENplus assurance because the pellets
were produced by an ENplus producer,
but if they have a problem with a blown
delivery of ENplus-A1 pellets from an unaccredited
trader, they will find that they
have no recourse under the ENplus complaints
procedure. The situation with
bagged deliveries of ENplus pellets is difdifferent
and the conditions outlined
above do not apply.
ENplus for wood pellet producers
When a producer applies to the certification
scheme an initial inspection of the
producer is carried out by an inspection
body listed within the EPC. Within the
audit:
samples are taken from production/
storage and tested in an accredited
laboratory
an examination is carried out of the
origin of raw materials and addi-
42

tives
an inspection of the producers’ own
sampling and internal quality testtesting
takes place
an examination is carried out of the
production process and quality
management documentation
Once a producer has been certified each
production facility is inspected annually by
testing institutes accredited according to
ISO 17020 and ISO 17025 – these inspections
can be carried out unannounced. If
major non-conformities are found the certification
body may suspend the producer’s
certificate. The scheme requires that
the producer appoint an experienced employee
as a quality manager who must
ensure that all required documentation
and operating processes are adhered to.
As well as an annual inspection the producer
must regularly test the quality of
manufactured pellets to check that they
comply with the product requirements to
avoid out-of-spec batches being produced.
Sustainability
Additionally, ENplus covers criteria for
sustainability and supply security – which
are crucial for the future development of
the pellet market. ENplus certified producers
have to sign the “Statement of
Commitment” to document that they are
committed to ensuring that both the
sourcing of the raw material for pellet
production and the operation of the pellet
plant complies with generally accepted
43
sustainability principles. The national licensers
inspection body through a dedicated
audit can investigate any concerns
over the sustainability principles of the
producer. The sustainability criteria also
require the producer to document the
origin of their raw material, state the
amount of CO 2-eq emitted per metric tonne
of pellets produced.
To date all UK ENplus producers are either
certified or working towards being FSC
certified.
ENplus for wood pellet traders
The ENplus requirements for traders are
designed to ensure that the pellets are
supplied to the customer in a way that
minimises problems. The trader must
comply with a number of requirements
including:
Adequate technical equipment for the
storage, handling and delivery of high
quality wood pellets. The equipment and
storage space must be checked regularly
and cleaned as necessary.
Dry storage conditions, avoiding exposure
to rain, snow and condensate
quality.
No mixing of wood pellets of different
The screening of fines to less than 1%
by weight at the point of loading for delivery
to a customer. No reloading from delivery
truck or trailers without screening.
The temperature of the loaded pellets
must not exceed 40°C.
Visual inspection of the quality of the
wood pellets during the loading process.

Reference samples taken at the point
of loading for delivery to the end customer.
Gauged on-board weighing systems
on silo vehicles for blown deliveries. Individual
traders may apply for exemptions
for up to 3 years. Such exemptions can be
lifted if repeated complaints from customers
are received.
Low-abrasion blowing/suction feeding
systems on the delivery trucks.
Suction systems on the trucks to extract
the blown air from the stores during
delivery.
Checks for irregularities in the pipes
and the store (e.g. missing impact mats or
unfavourable pipe angles) before delivery.
Obvious defects to be documented on the
delivery note.
Estimation of the filling level of the
store before delivery by the driver.
Detailed record-keeping
Annual training for delivery drivers.
The requirements are designed to stipulate
the actions and technology necessary
to ensure that the product is in as good a
condition as practical when it arrives in
your store. And yet, some British suppliers
have sought exemption from some of the
requirements for three years. When a supplier
offers ENplus deliveries, you should
ask (a) for their ENplus ID as a trader
(UK3**), and (b) if they have sought any
exemptions from the standard requirements.
Exemptions indicate that the trader
is not willing to invest sufficiently to
optimise pellet quality during the delivery
process. The customer will feel the impact
on the quality of the delivered pellets.
ENplus for the End Customer
The design and setup of the store and
handling system can also have an effect on
the quality of fuel that is delivered into
the store or transported into your boiler.
Your ENplus supplier may deliver your
ENplus pellets in accordance with ENplus,
but if your storage and handling system is
not correctly designed and constructed
you could experience problems. Your boiler
may run less efficiently or even fail.
The UK Pellet Council has a pellet storage
and handling guide, which will help you
make the right decisions when commissioning
your boiler and wood pellet store,
to ensure pellets arrive in the best state to
achieve economical, trouble-free heating
and hot water.
HETAS: Certification Body for ENPlus
HETAS is the Certification Body for ENplus
in the UK and all applications from UK
based pellet producers and traders must
be made through it. The UK Pellet Council
holds the Licensing rights for the scheme
in the UK.
A complete listing of all certified Producers
and Traders can be found on the EPC
website: www.enplus-pellets.eu/
Bruno Prior is Managing Director of Forever
Fuels and chairs the REA’s Biomass Group.
Forever Fuels is part of the Summerleaze
group, and Bruno has been working in renewables
for Summerleaze for over 20 years.
44

Bioenergy Meets Technology
ICT for systems-wide integration of key sustainability issues in
bioenergy supply chains
Bioenergy is causing furore amongst politicians,
environmentalists and the public alike.
Bold generic claims that ‘biomass is not solution
to climate change’ are making media
headlines, supported by dramatic images of
deforestation and burning peatlands as a result
of palm oil production in Indonesia. But in
fact bioenergy can, depending on location and
operational management, provide substantial
environmental benefits vis-à-vis the alternative
energy sources that are available. What
we should be talking about is: how do we ensure
that it is done properly?
Factors that affect cost-efficiency, energy and
GHG input-output ratios of biomass include
water content, density, impurities and biomass
loss. These factors are not managed
when their importance is not recognized
across the supply chain or when there are no
systems in place to monitor them. Sure, a
weathered forester can roughly estimate
when a certain timber pile will be approximately
kiln dry, but there are obvious problems
with this approach. There may not always
be an expert at hand. Even if there is, a
small bioenergy company can have hundreds
of storage piles in the forest and keeping track
of each of them is simply too demanding for
anyone. Finally, this strategy requires someone
to travel to the spot for monitoring.
In this day and age, none of this is necessary.
Automated moisture monitoring can be used
in combination with central data sharing and
networking platforms (“Enterprise Resource
Planning” systems) for real-time monitoring of
storage inventories, feedstock quality and calorific
value, increasing the transparency of
operations throughout the supply chain. Your
harvesting contractor collects data on a roadside
stock, noting initial moisture, size, biomass
type and sends the relevant data via mobile
to the central ERP at the touch of a but-
45

Back at the office, your supply manager verifies
the data and registers the storage location.
Based on a moisture content algorithm, the
ERP tells you when the material is dry enough
to be processed. All he has to do is to set an
alarm date and when the due date arrives,
your contractor is automatically reminded by
SMS or email to collect the pile for transport
and processing. The payback time on investing
in these types of ERP systems including training
costs ranges from a couple of months to
one year.
The lack of implementation of quality monitoring
systems has much to do with incentives.
What has surprised us most at MHG Systems is
that many bioenergy plants continue to pay
their contractors per tonne biomass, while
others will adjust price when moisture content
is above an arbitrarily defined threshold percentage.
These decisions are made by plant
operators on the basis of either a lack of
awareness or in some cases a “whatever
works” working culture. An electricity plant
processing 110kt of softwood stands to lose
between 100.000-370.000 Euros per annum
for every 5% increase in moisture content.
Including transport costs, the profit from one
single truck load for damp (58%) and dry (34%)
woodchips can differ by 470 Euros. ERP’s like
MHG’s ‘Biomass Manager’ allow you to overcome
these costs by enabling plants to bill
suppliers based on MWh-content of feedstock.
In addition, it provides contractors with a
transparent overview of input costs and hours
worked. From producers to truck drivers, the
entire system is geared towards maximizing
energy output of feedstock (see Figure 1).
But it goes further. By providing a framework
for collection and sharing of data between
users operating across the supply chain, ERP
solutions could potentially facilitate systemswide
integration of key sustainability issues in
the production of bioenergy and bioproducts.
Data conversion tools can facilitate translation
of tangible measures commonly used in the
industry (eg. tonnes) to more abstract performance
measures that are key to financial, social
or environmental performance reporting,
such as Megawatt-hours, Greenhouse gas
emissions or Megawatt-hours per hectare. In
this way, ERP’s such as MHG’s Biomass Manager
are crucial to ensure that the bioenergy
sector delivers on its social and environmental
promises, as well as to facilitate adaptive and
financially viable biomass enterprises.
Seppo Huurinainen
Toimitusjohtaja | Managing Director
FL, MML | Lic.Bot., Lic.For.
MHG Systems produces ICT solutions geared
at the biomass industry. They are currently
collaborating with University of Eastern Finland
and Finnish Forest Research Institute
(Metla) to integrate improved location and
weather-specific moisture content algorithms
for coniferous biomass into their ‘Biomass
Manager’ ERP. For more information on MHG
services or innovation, see the MHG Website.
MHG Systems Oy Ltd
Mikpoli
Patteristonkatu 2
FI-50100 Mikkeli
Finland
tel: +358 (0)10 400 6280
fax: +358 (0)10 400 6289
gsm: +358 (0)44 581 4950
email: seppo.huurinainen@mhgsystems.com
web: www.mhgsystems.com
46

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