Wood Fuel Supply Chain

The client, a county council in the South of England required a study of the supply and demand potential for wood fuel within one of the sub regions in their catchment area and to create a set of recommendations for maximizing the use of wood fuel in the area for use in a Commercial Biomass Boiler.

Using GIS mapping, the current and potential wood fuel supply from the forestry, sawmill, agricultural and waste wood sectors was quantified and analysed as well as some of the major barriers and concerns preventing the market from growing. The demand side of the market was simultaneously studied by collecting heat data for the county council building stock, local authorities, the NHS, the Prison Service and certain areas of the private sector with high biomass suitability such as glass houses.