BIOMASS CASE STUDY

BLAISE NURSERY, BRISTOL

Bristol City Council

INTRODUCTION

Bristol City Council's plant nursery in the grounds of Blaise Castle estate produces over 1.5 million plants per year for the
city. It also grows, supplies and delivers plants for many other authorities. It supplies 5,000 hanging baskets and troughs
and can also organise, supply and maintain indoor decorations and house plants. 70% of the plants are grown in peat-
free soil in poly-tunnels and glass houses that cover a total area of more than 8,000m².

In 2001, Energy For Sustainable Development (ESD) carried out a broad survey of several Bristol sites including Blaise
for possible development of sustainable energy facilities. In 2003, The Centre for Sustainable Energy (CSE) carried out a
feasibility study to investigate the possibilities for specific biomass projects within the city council's sites. The study
identified Blaise Nursery as a potential site for a biomass boiler to heat its poly-tunnels and glass houses, using locally
sourced material in the form of wood chips from the city's parks, estates and other maintenance activities.

In October 2006 a new 400kW biomass boiler was installed and commissioned.

BUILDINGS

The nursery's activities are spread across eight poly-tunnels and glass houses of varying sizes – the smallest is 129m²
and the largest 2,400m². Until now these have been heated during the growing months of March to May by a
combination of heating systems using oil and LPG. The photograph below shows part of the site.

To heat these during the growing months, the council was spending about £19,000 a year on oil and LPG, and it was

estimated that it was producing over 100 tonnes of CO² per year. Meanwhile the council was also producing biomass
residues of 2,000 – 3,000 tonnes a year from its arboricultural activities. A small percentage was being sold whilst the
rest was being spread around woodlands.

PROJECT DEVELOPMENT

CSE carried out a feasibility study in 2003 to consider the opportunities for a biomass boiler but this showed that the
economics were marginal. In the early stages of the project Dr Robin Cotton of Wood Energy Ltd provided much advice
and general information to Bristol City Council employees about biomass systems as this was a new subject and
experience in the UK was limited. Wood Energy then carried out a more detailed feasibility study. It was decided that in
spite of the marginal economics of the scheme, it would go ahead, as the project would act as a flagship and focal point
for others to follow. MCA Consulting Engineers based in Sussex produced a full design and provided project
management services.

It was also decided to create a wood reclamation centre on the site, where the arboricultural materials could be chipped
and stored. The storage area was designed to be larger than necessary for the nursery's needs so that the chipped
materials could be used not only to feed the boiler at Blaise but also used in other council biomass locations.

HEATING SYSTEM

The boiler selected for the site was a step-grate Binder RRK 400 – 600 wood chip boiler from Austria, supplied by Wood
Energy. The boiler with its controls and accumulator tank of 10,000 litres cost approximately £80,000. After allowing for a
Bio-energy Capital Grant of 25% the net cost was approximately £60,000. There was an existing nursery building used
for storing agricultural machinery that had sufficient space to house the new boiler, but since the site is large and spread
out, underground mains piping with six branches needed to be laid with a total length of approximately 200 metres,
connecting the poly-tunnels and glass-houses to the boiler system. Insulated piping from another Austrian manufacturer,
Flexalen, was selected for this. The costs of the pipework and associated work amounted to over £100,000.

The photographs below shows the main boiler house with the wood store alongside, and some of the poly-tunnels with
the two of the air heating system fans suspended from above.

FUEL SUPPLY AND STORAGE

In order to develop the wood reclamation centre, a new building was erected to store the finished chips alongside the
boiler house and a concrete area was created beside the building for chipping and screening machinery to be deployed.
The council's contractor brings all the arboricultural materials, both wood chips and core wood to the site. The core wood
is stored and periodically the councils hires equipment to carry out its own chipping. Wood chip is then fed through a new
screening machine that eliminates unsuitable materials and feeds the finished chips into the covered wood store. In a
corner of the wood store is the bunker that holds approximately 75m³ of chips from which a spring-loaded rotary arm and
auger feed the chips to the boiler in the adjacent building.

A certain amount of drying occurs once the chips are in the covered store. The target maximum moisture content of the
chips is 50%. The nursery is expected to consume about 300 tonnes of wood chip in the three months of the year when it
is operating fully. The site supplies two other city council biomass installations at present – Florence Brown Community
School and Netham Park Recreation Ground Pavilion which also have Binder wood chip boilers. Experimental work is
continuing with the materials; shredding of pallets has been tried and temporarily suspended following problems with
screening out of nails but it is hoped eventually to generate enough biomass to supply other biomass installations across
the region.

During the first year of operation, the old LPG and oil burners have been retained as backup sources of heat. It is hoped
eventually to replace them with a modern oil-fired boiler to act as backup in the event of breakdown.

The photograph below shows the fuel store and the screening equipment.
COSTS AND GRANTS

The initial feasibility study qualified for a £2,000 grant under the former SWEB scheme that is now called the EDF Green
Energy fund.

The estimated costs for the total project were around £170,000, offset by the Bio-energy Capital grant of £20,000. The
estimates proved to be low, principally due to the costs of the extensive pipework, and the eventual costs totalled more
than £200,000. There were also additional costs for the new concrete hard standing area (£40,000) and the screening
equipment (£45,000). The boiler has an expected life span of 20-30 years.

The council is forecasting a payback for the investment of 9 years. This is based on expected annual fuel savings of
£19,000 per year in oil and LPG but does not include all of the capital costs incurred such as new concrete standing and
screening equipment. It also ignores the cost of chipping and processing the arboricultural residues since it is hoped to
gain additional revenues from sale of biomass materials.

LESSONS LEARNED

It was hoped initially that the chips from arboricultural arisings would be sufficient to fuel the step-grate boiler without
further processing, but this proved to be difficult and there have been issues with the quality of the fuel. The installation of
new screening equipment is expected to resolve the problems.

Bristol City Council staff believe that they should have tried to get firm quotations from suppliers before applying for
grants since the quotations and actual costs of some aspects of the project proved to be wide apart. They feel that they
should also have been more meticulous in checking project plans and costs. The project proved to be a challenging
learning process and several staff would have liked a longer period of “hand-holding” from the suppliers, but hope that by
having completed the facility and hosting visits from other interested people, the renewable energy community at large
will gain significant benefits on the back of their experience.

Summary facts

Boiler manufacturer Binder

Model RRK 400-600kW
Size 400kW average; 600kW peak
Fuel type Wood chips
Supplied by Wood Energy Ltd
Buildings served Poly-tunnels and glass houses
Service provided Air heating
Maximum moisture 50%
content
Maximum particle size 85mm
Wood fuel storage 75m³
volume
Cost of boiler, controls £80,000 approx
and buffer tank
 Grant obtained £20,000 approx
Date of commissioning Oct 2006
Name of owner Bristol City Council
Address Blaise Nursery
Kings Weston Road, Bristol BS10 7QS
Contact Paul Barker, Environmental Management Officer
(0117 922 4438)

Contacts

Wood Energy Ltd Wood Energy Ltd

Pinkworthy Barn,
Oakford,
Tiverton,
Devon
EX16 9EU

Tel: +44 (0) 845 070 7338

Website: www.woodenergyltd.co.uk
MCA Consulting MCA Consulting Engineers Ltd
Engineers 17/18 Newhouse Business Centre
Old Crawley Road
Faygate
West Sussex
RH12 4RU
Tel: 01293 851490

Website: www.mcaltd.co.uk
Flexalen Energy Ltd Flexalen Energy
Unit 1
Station Road Ind. Estate
Station Road
Methil, Fife
Scotland
KY8 3HA

Tel: 0845 644 3793

Website: www.flexalen.co.uk

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This case study has been produced as part of the Knowledge Exploitation South West project (KESW2) funded by the
South West Regional Development Agency.

OTHER USEFUL CONTACTS

Biomass Energy Centre

The centre is run by the Forestry Commission and draws together information from existing sources into one easy-to-use
website and an information enquiry service.

Biomass Energy Centre

Alice Holt Lodge
Farnham
Surrey
GU10 4LH
Tel: 01420 526197

Website: www.biomassenergycentre.org.uk

South West Woodshed

This website lists all future woodfuel training and other events in the South West and provides a facility for booking
places on courses. It is run by Regen SW and is funded by the South West RDA.

Website: www.southwestwoodshed.co.uk
Woodland Renaissance

The South West Woodland Renaissance Partnership vision is to regenerate woodland and forestry in the South West for
the benefit of the economy, society and the environment.
Website: www.silvanus.org.uk/woodland_renaissance.php

Woodfuel South West Advice Service

The service is funded by the South West Woodland Renaissance Partnership and is a source of advice for anyone
considering installing automated wood chip or wood pellet heating. It operates within the Centre for Sustainable Energy
organisation.

Tel: 08450 740674

Nov 2007