Biomass for Farms and Landowners

DONCASTER, U.K. - May 14, 2013 - PRLog -- More and more farmers and landowners are making biomass energy an integral part of their business plan as they realise the financial benefits that are associated with ‘going green’.

Biomass systems provide a cost-effective way of generating heat for business or domestic use. Increasingly common due to environmental concerns and ever-rising energy costs, the systems generate heat from wood chips, wood based pellets or logs.

The low carbon nature of the fuel means that biomass systems are typically more cost-effective and efficient to run, will experience fewer price fluctuations and comes with the opportunity of harvesting your own materials for use in the system.

The Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) is now available for all commercial biomass installations and will soon be available for domestic properties (expected spring 2014). The main benefit of the RHI is the generation tariff, which is paid for every kilowatt-hour of energy produced.

Under the RHI scheme, farmers and landowners receive 8.6p for every unit of renewable heat their biomass boiler generates if its capacity is under 200 kWth, 5.3p for boilers between 200 kWth and 1,000 kWth, and 1.0p for those above 1,000 kWth.

Marcus Payne, managing director of Green Energy Solutions, said: “We’ve seen a big increase in biomass enquiries over the last 6 months as farmers and landowners become privy to these fantastic systems.

“They are reaping the benefits by investing in renewable energy and a biomass system can literally pay for itself within a few years.

“Farmers involved with poultry, pig units or horticulture may benefit in particular from a biomass installation.

“The RHI means you get a healthy reward for going green, is index linked and guaranteed throughout the government’s 20 year scheme.

“I would recommend all farmers and landowners take a serious look at switching to biomass as the financial and environmental paybacks are simply too good to miss.”

Example of the RHI payment scheme

A biomass boiler rated at 36kWth operates for 7 hours per day in winter and 3 hours per day in summer, i.e. 1,825 hours in total over the year.

This size of boiler is classified as ‘small biomass'. It therefore receives the tier 1 tariff of 8.6p per kWh for the first 1,314 hours and the tier 2 tariff of 2.2p per kWh for the other 511 hours.

1314 x 36 x £0.086 = £4068.14
511 x 36 x £0.022 = £404.71

Making an impressive total of £4472.85 per annum for a period of 20 years throughout the scheme (plus inflation adjustment). A 36kWth system could cost as little as £11,500.

Call Green Energy Solutions on 01302 727117 or free phone 0800 032 9890 for a free, no obligation quote on a commercial biomass boiler and start reaping the financial rewards.