Is this what's causing higher cordwood prices

[renewablejohn]

BBC News - Grangemouth biomass protesters arrested

This subsidised market is distorting the market

Profit for big companies at the expense of our taxes- discuss

 

I wish I could get my hands on some of this money. Applied for grants twice for a very efficient CHP biomass plant and rejected because according to DECC the plants are to sophisticated. I admit the design is standard in Austria Germany and Italy were biomass plants are very sustainable and efficient instead the government support white elephants like Lockerbie (Stevens Croft).

 

Our biomass operations can work efficiently with the pulp industry as we can use the brash discarded by the pulp operators.

[NI Tree]

what do they do with the excess hot water at stevens croff, is it ysed down the road a the what ever mill it is.

[renewablejohn]

what do they do with the excess hot water at stevens croff, is it ysed down the road a the what ever mill it is.

 

All the waste heat is vented to the atmosphere which is why the plant is so inefficient. It also uses timber with an average moisture content of 53% how stupid is that.

 

If anybody is interested the type of plant and costings which got rejected by DECC as being to sophisticated are outlined in this report as "Turboden" we had already carried out our research and rejected the "Talbot" machine as untried and untested technology.

 

http://www.glasu.org.uk/en/uploads/documents/CHP_summary_Jan07.pdf

[NI Tree]

All the waste heat is vented to the atmosphere which is why the plant is so inefficient. It also uses timber with an average moisture content of 53% how stupid is that.

 

If anybody is interested the type of plant and costings which got rejected by DECC as being to sophisticated are outlined in this report as "Turboden" we had already carried out our research and rejected the "Talbot" machine as untried and untested technology.

 

http://www.glasu.org.uk/en/uploads/documents/CHP_summary_Jan07.pdf

 

holly molly i can not bleave those figgers, of steve croff that is a compleste discrase, with a mill down the road they must be pipe some of this excess heat for the kilens but then i sopose that Eon is just to big a there and they must be a pain to deal with

I just realised there are quite a few chp plants in aberbeen, even the uni have one it about 100m from my room

[easy-lift guy]

Any time the government subsidizes anything the results are usually a disaster with the general public holding the bag. Here in the states we have government funding for Ethanol production. Another complete waste of time, "resources that we could be eating!", and most of all $$$$$$$$. I suspect the same is true for your bio mass plants as well. Private industry is the only source that can make a determination weather or not something can or will work. It's called Profit! Once again the government as well intended as they think their actions are will very often end in financial disaster.

[gensetsteve]

And the crazy thing is it will be destroying small viable businesses along the way. Small scale locally sourced timber processed for wood burners which are 80% efficent. A sustainable and viable heat source for homes while providing employment could not get more simple.

[renewablejohn]

Another classic was the biomass CHP plant at Wilton designed to put its waste heat into the steam pipes of the industrial estate at Wilton but if it did that it would not be eligible for the government ROC's so again vented to atmosphere.

[easy-lift guy]

What a waste, government if given the chance will shoot it's self in the foot everytime!. Does the firewood industry or the arb. industry have any ability to rain these idiots in or is it a EU thing and your all cooked?

[renewablejohn]

Definitely not an EU thing. Austria and the Scandinavian countries have had very efficient biomass CHP plants for over 30 years. You would think that any UK biomass policy would be built on this best practice but instead we try and reinvent the wheel putting short term profit ahead of long term sustainability. If Stevens Croft had been built to best European standards the same amount of timber used could have produced 4 times the usable amount of energy with approx 10% of the pollution.