Wood Energy Guide
The Wood Energy Guide “Using local timber to heat your home” is an ‘all you need to know guide’ for end users in considering locally produced timber as a renewable energy resource for their homes and businesses. It provides practical information for home owners and small scale businesses on boiler types and sourcing suitable appliances, and types of fuel available and practical tips for wood storage
Download the brochure here >> (1.17MB)
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Energy from Wood Biomass – Environmental Management Considerations
This report has been produced by Norsjö municipality as an activity under the European Union Northern Periphery Programme project RASLRES (Regional Approaches to Stimulating Local Renewable Energy Solutions – www.raslres.eu). The intention with this report is to raise awareness of potential environmental impacts and how to mitigate them when increasing the uptake of biomass in terms of forestry. It should however be pointed out that these environmental impacts should be put in perspective with the alternatives, which in many cases are fossil fuels.
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Review of Woodchip Supply in the Western Region
This market research report presents an overview of the woodchip supply sector in the Western Region. The analysis looks at the level of activity, the scale and the maturity of the companies that supply woodchips for the commercial heating market in the region. This information is of interest to those planning a woodchip fired boiler scheme, and to potential new fuel supply producers or processors.
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Technical Reports
The following two technical reports are based on experiences with RASLRES pilot projects in the Western Region. The reports aim to share the lessons from the RASLRES projects with other potential industrial heat users. One report looks at how a manufacturing plant switched to biomass from coal for process drying. The second report draws together the lessons from two manufacturing plants (namely a milk processing plant and an animal feed plant) who assessed biomass boilers for process steam.
To download the technical report on process drying, please click here >> (1.59MB)
To download the technical report on biomass boilers for process steam, please click here >>(1.6MB)
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Wood Energy Installations in the Western Region
This market research report presents a review of medium scale wood energy installations (defined as systems with a boiler size range of 60kW to 1MW) in the Western Region of Ireland.
The report presents a profile of current wood energy users in the region and documents the lessons learnt from operation of installations to date. The analysis informs on future industry planning by detailing the current demand in this market segment, and by providing guidance to potential wood energy users on key issues to consider when developing a project.
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Energy Crop Opportunities in the Western Region
The report Energy Crop Opportunities in the Western Region presents an analysis of the potential of energy crops in the Western Region of Ireland based on the application of the national bioenergy Geographical Information System (BGIS), and discusses key factors impacting on the future development of the energy crop sector. The market analysis is of interest to existing and potential fuel producers and processors, private developers of bioenergy projects, local development companies and activists, and public sector players at a policy level and also public procurement of energy. The WDC delivered the report under RASLRES in partnership with the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) and Teagasc.
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Research on Wood Energy in the West of Ireland
The results of research that has been carried out through the RASLRES project into the availability and need for wood energy in the West of Ireland is being made available to the public.
This unique research comprises three publications.
Part one comprises of regional and county based forecasts of the potential wood fuel resource of the West for the period 2010 to 2028; a review of the existing pulpwood and biomass markets within the WDC region and an assessment of the potential for the Western wood energy market. This research document is available for download here
Part two determines an energy balance for the Western region, to understand the current demand for heating and to estimate the future demand for biomass heating in the region. This research document is available for download here
Part three outlines the method for initial heat mapping of the Western Region. This document is available for download here
