Are the business, environmental and
cost issues of woodfuel of interest to you?

Following study tours to Austria and Finland, and technical site visits in the UK, the South East of England Forestry Commission, as part of it’s Intelligent Energy Europe Programme, is offering FREE training seminars highlighting the lessons learnt and technical knowledge gained.

Training will cover -
• The Wood Fuel Resource – how much is available?
• Modern day conversion of wood to heat
• Woodfuel processing techniques
• How you can benefit from Wood Fuel Standards
• How to develop suitable business models
Buyers -
Sept 16th - Guildford, Surrey
Oct 7th - Nr Newbury, Berkshire
Oct 14th - Flimwell, East Sussex

Sellers –
Sept 28th - Lower Basildon, Berkshire
Oct 6th - Lyndhurst, Hampshire
Oct 12th - Nr Ashford, Kent

For further detials,and to book, contact:

jeanette.hawkins@forestry.gsi.gov.uk

www.woodheatsolutions.eu and  www.biomassenergycentre.org.uk

A new Co op is being formed to enable people in the East Devon area to be able to use local woodfuel rather than increasingly having to rely on timber brought in from outside the area and in some cases from other countries. The Co op will work for members to provide them with a consistent supply at lowest cost to members whilst bringing parcels of local woodland back into management. The Co op will also provide access to training on forestry to local people wishing to develop careers in this profession.

Member benefits

• To enable members of the communities local to woodland in the Honiton/ East Devon area to engage in a meaningful way with woodland including contributing towards the collection of wood fuel in those woods and increasing their understanding of woodland ecology
• To enable members of the communities local to woodland in the target area to be able to access local, sustainable, cost effective supplies of wood fuel
• To allow individual members of the local communities to access appropriate training to  enable them to pursue a career in forestry

Members can be anyone who will benefit from one or more of the Co op activities listed above.

Co op membership

A Co op is being formed and you are invited to join. There will be a one of fee of £1 for 1 share in the Co op. Thereafter there will be an annual subscription of £10 which will be used to cover the running costs of the Co op which will mainly be to pay a part time administrator who will arrange member days in local woodlands, coordinate woodfuel supply to members and liaise with woodland owners in the area who will be working with the Co op to provide the timber for the Co op.

Services offered by the Co op

• Access for members to local woodland on woodland days as part of the woodland management plans for the woodland to be part of a team collecting timber for members. The number of woodland days to be offered per year to be decided by Co op members. Members taking part in timber collection will be entitled to a rebate from their woodfuel costs
• A woodfuel supply service – members will contract with the Co op to supply them with woodfuel  for their log burners or wood boilers
• Access to training in forestry skills alongside appropriately qualified Co op personnel. Training will be bespoke and will lead to recognised qualifications

How will the co op be managed?

The Co op will elect a Committee from the membership who will be responsible for steering the running of the Co op. A part time administrator will be recruited who will report to the Committee.

Initial support for the Co op

There is support funding in place to cover employment costs for the Co op until September this year. This support will also enable EFFP to seek additional external sources of support post September for the Co op.

Operational Mechanisms

It is proposed that the new Co op will engage with woodland owners and local forestry contractors to work on its behalf to develop forestry management plans with local woodland owners; extract timber from these woods and where necessary process and deliver wood fuel to members. The Co op through its affiliated forestry contractors will also offer wood processing services to members who have their own sources of wood fuel.

The Co op will not own machinery but will rather contract with existing forestry contractors and provide them with secure work on a contractual basis.

What will be required of members?

All members will be required to sign a member agreement which sets out the relationship between the Co op and the member.

To find out more contact Liz Bowles of EFFP on 01884 32605 or email lbowles@effp.com or John Bell on 01297 552132 or email: john@maitlandbell.eclipse.co.uk

To find out more details, please use the link below:

Axewoods Co-Ordinator

This one day study tour will showcase Bristol City Councils ‘Best Practice Wood Energy Strategy’. Delegates will learn how the council helped establish a local wood-energy supply chain, from creating the wood chip through to installing biomass boilers in public buildings.
The day will include a morning seminar at the Bristol Pavilion, followed by three site visits after lunch, and plenty of question and answer sessions. In addition, a panel of experts will be on hand to give their guidance.
The seminar sessions will cover many topics and include a session on how the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) could have an impact on your organisation. Bristol Council will also detail the challenges they faced in overcoming various bottlenecks and supply issues.
We encourage early booking as places are strictly limited to 100. There is a charge for this event.
Morning: Seminars
Learn how Bristol has helped to develop a wood-energy supply chain within the region, from the supply of wood chip from its own arising, through to state-of-the-art biomass boiler installations at local schools and the recently re-developed Bristol Museum.

Afternoon: 3 site visits
·Bristol Museum: 300 kW Wood energy pellet boiler
·Ashton School: 500 kW Econergy wood chip boiler
·Blaise Plant Nursery: wood chipping and storage, plus a 400 kW Binder wood chip boiler

More Information and Book Now

In conjunction with the Energy Saving Trust, Regen SW is running a Local Carbon Solutions conference, which will take place in Bristol on 23 June 2010.
The transition to a low carbon economy is not only a huge challenge but also the greatest economic opportunity of the coming decade. The role of local authorities is central both to rising to this challenge and to seizing the opportunity.

The conference will examine the role of the public sector in delivering carbon savings and sustainable energy. Regen SW has developed new support mechanisms to help local authorities respond pro-actively and efficiently to the low carbon challenge and these will be launched at the event.  Full detials can be found at Low Carbon Solutions Conference

When: 17 March 2010
Time: 9.30am – 3pm
Where: Genesis Centre, Somerset College, Wellington Road, Taunton

Fuelling the Growth of Bioenergy; Identifying the education and training needs for a sustainable future in Somerset.

There are still some unanswered questions on the Feed in Tariff, which we will be feeding back to DECC, and even more on the Renewable Heat Incentive that we expect to come out of our consultation event on 16 March (to sign up, visit http://ow.ly/14aTI), but the points below should give you a good overview of the key elements.

To read the government’s full report, visit: http://ow.ly/14XZG

To see the below information as a word document, visit: http://www.regensw.co.uk/downloads/RegenSW_425.doc

 The proposed Renewable Heat Incentive is similar in design to the feed in tariff, with some distinctive features, due to the differences between producing heat and generating power.  It is a consultation document at this stage, so it is subject to change.

 Tariff payments

• Tariff levels are proposed to provide a rate of return of 12 per cent on the additional capital cost of renewables, with a lower rate of return of 6 per cent for solar thermal (see table of tariff rates at the end of this document)
• RHI will remain open to new projects until at least 2020. Its design and tariff levels will be reviewed from time to time for new projects, to adapt to changes in technology costs and other circumstances.
• Annual payments will be made for installations below 45 kW and quarterly for those above this level.
• The number of years of support proposed varies depending on the technology, from 23 years for small ground source heat pumps to 10 years for biogas onsite combustion. 
• The issue of tax on the payments is still to be determined by the Treasury
• It is unclear whether the payments would be index-linked to inflation or not. 
• It is proposed that payments are ‘grandfathered’, meaning that a project installed in year one of the scheme continues to receive payments at the level set in year one throughout the time that it is eligible for RHI support.  Tariffs are reduced for new projects installed in later years. 
• The market is expected to develop up-front financing schemes.  Central government is unlikely to provide products (outside of the Pay as You Save scheme that is currently being piloted). 

Calculating payments

• Payments will be calculated on the annual amount of heat output, expressed in kilowatt hours (kWh). At the small and medium scale (see the tariff level tables for details of what is classified as small or medium), the amount of heat generated by the equipment is proposed to be estimated (or “deemed”) when installed, in most cases. This will allow the beneficiary of the incentive to receive a set amount based on the deemed output, to encourage low0energy consumption and discourage wasting heat.
• Deemed payments for small-scale installations will be based upon the estimated heat demand for a building, calculated for each property using the Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP) rating for domestic properties or Simplified Building Energy Model (SBEM) for nondomestic situations, as well as the assessments carried out to create Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) for new buildings in particular.
• Medium-scale installations will follow the same approach as small scale, with solid biomass installations being allowed to choose between deemed payments and metering.  Installations choosing this approach would still receive the same tariff for the same deemed number of kWh, but where the metered number of kWh used exceeds the deemed number, an additional lower tariff per kWh would be paid for the metered excess.
• Large-scale and process-heating (and medium-scale, where not covered by SAP/SBEM/EPC) support would be calculated as the metered number of kWh multiplied by the tariff per kWh.  Biomethane injection and district heating would be metered at all scales.

 Eligibility

• The scheme should support a range of technologies, including air, water and ground-source heat pumps (and other geothermal energy), solar thermal, biomass boilers, renewable combined heat and power, use of biogas and bioliquids and the injection of biomethane into the natural gas grid.
• Woodstoves are not included, though the issue of backboilers needs to be clarified  
• To ensure that the incentive is paid only to installations that function correctly, regular evidence of ongoing maintenance and repair may be required within a fixed time period, or payment of the incentive would be at risk.
• As announced in the RES, eligible installations completed after 15 July 2009, but before the start of the RHI, will benefit from the scheme as if they had been installed on the date of its introduction.

Accreditation

• In small and medium-sized installations, both installers and equipment must be certified under the Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) or an equivalent standard.
• For larger installations, it is proposed that similar standards are not imposed.  The government would instead expect those involved with larger projects to have or obtain the necessary expertise to make appropriate choices and ensure they get value for money.

 Auditing

Ofgem will administer the RHI, making incentive payments to recipients and taking responsibility for auditing and enforcing the scheme. DECC will work with Ofgem to devise a simple process for accrediting smaller installations. This is to ensure that standards are met and payments can be made.

 Funding of the scheme

Following informal consultation with stakeholders and appraisal of the issues associated with raising funds for RHI payments, the government is considering what would be the most effective way to fund the RHI, including reviewing the levy provisions in the Energy Act 2008. The government plans to make a further announcement at Budget 2010. Work to assess options for funding the RHI scheme will not impact on DECC’s intention to launch the scheme in April 2011.

 Small installations

 Medium installations

  Large installations 

 Click here to Book Now

 Feed into the Renewable Heat Incentive consultation

Regen SW, in partnership with the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC), is running a high profile national conference on DECC’s imminent consultation on introducing a Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) in April 2011.  The event will bring together around 150 national businesses and decision makers to debate the issues raised by the RHI consultation.  Senior representatives from DECC will be presenting the proposed scheme and seeking feedback from the audience.

 Business opportunities

The introduction of the RHI is a landmark step in the development of renewable energy. For the first time there will be a coherent incentive to incentivise renewable heat providing a secure income stream for those who invest in technologies such as biomass, solar thermal, AD, and heat pumps – creating new business opportunities for companies in retailing, development, manufac­turing and finance as well as the energy sector.

 However, the UK is the first country to bring in such a system and its design and implementation will be key to its success. This conference, therefore, is designed to give businesses the opportunity to understand and influence the design of the RHI.

 The event will take place at ‘At-Bristol’, Harbourside, Bristol, on 16 March 2010 and will run from approximately 9am-4pm.

Member rate:  £195

Non member rate: £295

 For further details visit – www.regensw.co.uk/eventhq or click here to Book Now

 Sponsorship opportunity

Sponsorship opportunities for this event are also still available.  To discuss details, requirements and costs, please contact  Rachel Hayes, Events co-ordinator Email: rhayes@regensw.co.uk,

 Main Line: 01392 494399, Direct Line: 01392 474374

Renewable Heat Incentive consultation event – Warming up the Market

16 March 2010, at @Bristol.  To book your place, visit: http://ow.ly/11192