Timber and woodchip annual tonnage.

[High Scale]

Hello, the local authority I contract for is trying to estimate a ballpark figure of the total tonnage of logs and woodchip produced annually in the possible intention of using it to burn in some of the council boilers. Has anybody here worked on this type of thing before, I know it's a bit much to ask but i thought some folk here may have already worked on this type of question.

 

Thanks.

[RobRainford]

Hello, the local authority I contract for is trying to estimate a ballpark figure of the total tonnage of logs and woodchip produced annually in the possible intention of using it to burn in some of the council boilers. Has anybody here worked on this type of thing before, I know it's a bit much to ask but i thought some folk here may have already worked on this type of question.

 

Thanks.

 

 

i would calculate it on how much a tipper/pickup would hold, and then on average how many days they work with it full in a year, then maybe give or take 10-15% to account for half loads and days off. Then add a bit for logs, as they can be so different, i would just calculate it all as a full load

 

i.e.

 

1 load = 1.5t

 

work 200 days x 1.5t = 300t

 

10% either way or even as far as 20% each way

 

thats how i would see it

[renewablejohn]

UK figures are available from Defra for forestry products. Ofgem have the figures for woodchip used in power stations and DECC have figures for waste wood for burning in WID compliant plants which varies annually between 8 million tonnes and 12 million tonnes. But I would presume the council already have these figures.

 

For our CHP calculations for every 10,000 tonnes of woodchip we require 600 hectares of forest to make it sustainable. This assumes total clear fell not just round wood production.