Apr 3 2006
BioRegional Development Group, in partnership with Croydon Council and City Suburban Tree Surgeons Ltd. have been working together to establish one of the UK’s first TreeStations, where tree surgery waste is processed into fuel suitable for use in wood chip boilers to provide heating. The TreeStation provides a valuable sustainable and local resource supporting the development of carbon neutral heating and creating employment. BioRegional are now working to replicate the successful system within other council areas.
BioRegional’s involvement with woodchip production initially started with the installation of a woodchip-fuelled combined heat and power (CHP) plant at south London’s BedZED eco-village (Beddington Zero Energy Development). It was estimated that the CHP, which formed part of the development’s zero fossil-energy strategy, would require approximately 1,100 tonnes per year of wood chip fuel and that this could be met using the quantity of tree surgery waste from Croydon’s green waste yard.
The Croydon TreeStation has the capacity to process at least 6,000 tonnes of wood chip fuel a year and has spurred the development of the local wood chip fuel market in south London. Forestry Manager Andrew Tolfts explains that the TreeStation “is now supplying large users and the availability of wood chip locally has recently resulted in four new developments in Croydon opting for carbon neutral wood chip heating over more traditional fossil fuel sources”.
Established in 2001 and funded by the Carbon Trust, The Norlands Foundation, and the ScottishPower Green Energy Trust, the Croydon TreeStation is helping Croydon Council to meet both their recycling and renewable-energy commitments.
Jim Brennan, Croydon Council’s divisional director of environment, cultural and sports services, said: “The TreeStation makes a useful product from a product that was previously regarded as waste. All the debris from the tree surgery work in the borough can be used, which helps the council increase recycling and enables us to promote woodchip fuel as a renewable energy, contributing to meeting two of our key environmental goals and diverting waste away from landfill sites.”
Following the success of the site in Croydon, Andrew Tolfts explained that “BioRegional now intends to work with other local authorities to establish a network of similar TreeStations across the UK. This will include looking at other sources of wood chip other than tree surgery waste to establish a coordinated supply of quality assured wood chip from many producers. We aim to give simplicity and reliability to end users”.
Given its carbon neutral qualities the wide scale use of wood chip as a renewable fuel could add greatly towards achieving the UK’s proposed 20% reduction in carbon emissions by 2010, and help other local authorities meet their carbon-reduction targets.
BioRegional has recently completed a case study entitled, ‘Wood Chip Production from Tree Surgery Arisings in Croydon’, which aims to share knowledge, experience and lessons learnt with others contemplating wood chip production from arboricultural arisings.