Buxton's, Staffordshire Biomass

“We have been looking at uprating our oil fired heating system in our shop and warehouse for some time. The biomass boiler route offered us a cost effective solution which also allowed us to replace oil fired central heating boilers in 2 adjacent houses. We initially went for the convenience of pellets, but we were also tempted by the cost advantages of wood chip. Finally, we settled on using the ETA boiler which can use chip or pellet for fuel so we are not tied to either fuel in the future.” Neale Hopley, Buxton’s Ltd.

The Project

Buxton’s Ltd is a Staffordshire-based business supplying forestry and garden equipment in the UK. As a family-run business of 45 years, the decision to introduce renewable energy was carefully considered along with the company they chose for the installation.

The Solution

TGE Group was asked to conduct a full site survey and present its recommendations for a biomass boiler to supply heat and hot water to the office, showroom and two domestic properties.  Our design specification for a high efficiency 130kW ETA wood-chip boiler was approved and installed within four weeks.

The ETA biomass boiler is installed with a hopper equipped with floor agitator and leaf spring arms. The boiler was chosen for its ability to work efficiently with a range of seasoned or fresh wood chip, based on its automatic fuel recognition. The system is equipped with a lambda probe that enables the ETA Hack control system to measure the residual oxygen in the flue gas and adjust the fuel input and air supply according to the density of the fuel. TGE Group also installed the 2,200ltr thermal store linked to the four buildings through 200m of heat main. The circulation pump supplies heat from the thermal store when demanded by the individual buildings.

Energy Saving

The 130kW biomass boiler installation replaces a combination of oil and electric heaters supplying 42,000kWh at 70% efficiency at a cost of 7.8p/kWh. The new system will generate 170,000kWh of district heating and hot water at 93% efficiency for a projected cost of 2.5p/kWh. The installation attracts the highest RHI tariff and will provide a return on investment of 25% with a 49 month payback.