East of England launches £4.3 million biomass heat project

Woodfuel East aims to bring approximately 20,000 hectares of woodland in the region into productive management and create an additional 110,000 tonnes per annum of quality woodchip for local supply to small to medium-sized boilers.

The five-year project is one of the largest funding awards of its kind in the England, and is being co-ordinated by the Forestry Commission.

It will provide capital grants, as well as advice and training to woodland owners and managers and micro-enterprises to kick start the wood fuel industry in the East of England. It also aims to cut carbon emissions by providing locally produced and sustainably sourced fuel, improve biodiversity, and create jobs and businesses in the rural economy.

Edwin Van Ek, of Woodfuel East, said the project was good news for biodiversity, landowners and the local economy. “There are about 140,000 hectares of woodland in the East of England, but 50,000 hectares are under-managed or not managed at all,” he said.

The award has come from the Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE), which is a combination of European funding and money from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, delivered regionally by the East of England Development Agency (EEDA).

Grants of up to 50 per cent are being made available to fund equipment to extract the timber from the woodland, store, process and market the woodchips, although, there will be no funding for boiler installation.

By 2013, the project aims to be saving at least 75,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per year and supplying the equivalent of 12,500 homes with energy.

Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk, many parts of which heat and electricity is supplied by oil, are the areas being targeted by the project.

“Our main focus will be ‘off-gas’ regions in the East of England,” commented Van Ek. “The biggest carbon savings can be made by replacing oil for electricity and heating in rural areas.”

Landowners in these regions will be encouraged to manage neglected woodlands and felled trees and cut branches, which might otherwise go to waste. These will be chipped for use in specialised boilers, providing heat and hot water for medium-sized buildings, such as schools, village halls and offices.

David Sillett, EEDA Rural Development manager, said: “Woodfuel East will encourage a co-ordinated supply chain, from landowners through to the marketplace for wood chips. With new markets, come new opportunities which will be of particular benefit to the rural economy.”