Savills trumpets Biomass CHP

Biomass combined heat and power (CHP) systems could become the “holy grail” of the renewable energy world, Adam Baxendine from Savills energy team told the All-Energy 2016 conference.

But, he said, the technology won’t suit everyone and there are some key considerations before investing in biomass CHP.

The main questions to ask clients, Baxendine said, are “do you have, or intend to gain the technical skills to establish a CHP system; and do you have the personal capabilities to run one?”

Biomass CHP system requires regular servicing and is a relatively young sector in the UK.

Therefore, Baxendine recommended securing a large maintenance budget – perhaps twice the amount advised by any manufacturer. 

This is because biomass CHP will need to be serviced every 500 hours – or about once a month – and the engine will need to be replaced several times throughout its lifetime. 

The constant heat production is actually one of the largest risks to a CHP project, he said, and clients often do not give enough thought as to what their energy use is or might be in the future.

The common solution is to run a woodchip enterprise and use the system for the drying process. 

He said a client may need 750 tonnes of dry wood for their own needs but the heat produced will allow them to dry 3000 tonnes per year. 

Fuel quality needs to be higher than that used for a standard biomass boiler, he added.

But, in any event, careful thought needs to be given to whether there is a local market to allow you to sell the woodchip, he said. 

Finally, Baxendine said, does the client have a connection to enable the to export of electricity to the grid and who is going to buy the electricity?

If the answer to all these questions is not yes then clients may have to go back to the drawing board and think again.

Even if the answer is yes, he said, it is worth having a frank discussion about whether a client is personally suited to running a CHP.

For example, “are you mechanically minded?  Can you strip down and rebuild an engine within a 12 hour period? Are you meticulous in your quality control, and importantly, do you have time to spend on maintenance or can you afford to employ someone who does?” he said.

Image: wood biomass (sxc)