Ipswich Council

As an education centre, the decision to choose a low carbon technology for the heating was made very early on in the design process. In this situation the benefits of biomass over other renewable energy technologies were clear.

The wood fuelled boiler was seen as a suitable option as it is able to provide all heating and hot water requirements throughout the year. The park also generates quite a large amount of woodchip for arboricultural work carried out.

Through refining the process for management of arboricultural waste it should be possible to provide a reasonable amount of the fuel requirements from within the park.

The 50kW Gilles boiler is a fully automated woodfuel boiler, which self-feeds fuel, auto ignites and modulates its power output to meet the heating demand in the same way as a more conventional gas or oil boiler would. The heating system is operated by room thermostats and a conventional heating controller.

The Fuel Store

The automated fuel feeding system is able to feed fuels ranging from pellets to G50 spec woodchips. The boiler can burn fuel with a moisture content of up to 30%, which is easily achieved through seasoning the wood. This means that the installation is not reliant on a specific fuel source, and so the cheapest fuel costs could be reduced. Fuel deliveries are made to the park centre once every two months

Carbon Savings

If the education centre had remained on heating oil, carbon emissions would have amounted to 14 tonnes of CO2 per year. Fortunately though, as the woodchip fuel for this system is sourced from sustainably managed woodland, the net CO2 produced from the combustion of this fuel is nothing.

Grant

The installation was supported by a grant from the Defra Bio-Energy Capital Grants Scheme.