Humber Court Farm (Wye Valley Energy’s Hereford HQ)

Wye Valley Energy Sees a Huge Reduction Fuel Costs from Self Supplying Fuel Grown on Site

Biomass Mini District System Heats Our Offices and Farm House

Wye Valley Energy's offices and main HQ are at Humber Court Farm, a 200 acre mixed livestock and arable farm in in Leominster, North Herefordshire.

As well as livestock and conventional arable crops, the farm grows the energy crop Miscanthus under contract. The farm house has been heated with biomass for over 8 years now.

50kW Lindner & Sommerauer Biomass Boiler

The original boiler was decommissioned, to make way for an RHI accredited wood chip district heating scheme. A 50kW Lindner & Sommerauer SL system now heats the farm house and buildings. The system replaced an old Eastern European wood pellet boiler and an oil boiler along with electric heaters. Heat is sent to the farm house by underground heat main.

Turnkey Biomass Project

It was a turnkey project, including all ground works and the construction of a new building to house the biomass boiler and fuel store. We supplied and installed the boiler system, organised the trenching, laid the heat main and carried out all of the internal connections into the farm house and offices.

Large Wood Chip Fuel Store

We also oversaw the construction of a bespoke boiler house and fuel store. A large wood chip fuel store was built in the plant room. This minimises the amount of fills per year and enables us to bulk chip our fuel from our own woodlands and hedges to keep the cost down.

Project Summary

Lindner & Sommerauer 50kW SL Series biomass boiler.
Runs on wood sourced and chipped on site.
4m agitator and 3m Auger to enable a large fuel store to minimise fills.
2,000 litre buffer tank.
High efficiency system pumps.
2 x class 2 RHI eligible ultrasonic heat meters complete with certification.
Biomass boiler linked to existing heating and hot water system.
High efficiency, low energy main system pump.
Full assistance with RHI application including schematic drawings.
Commissioning, programming and end user training.

Key Facts*

Project Included: Lindner & Sommerauer 50kW wood chip boiler with 4m agitator. Distribution pipework including internal connections to heat exchangers.

Fuel Consumption: 25 tonnes of wood chips, per annum. (Based on system of similar capacity, in a similar application).

Fuel Cost Saving: Woodchips: 50-80% vs heating oil. (Source; Biomass Energy Centre).

CO₂ Saving: Up to 96% or 88 tonnes vs heating oil. (Source; Biomass Energy Centre)

RHI Payments: A project of this size would gain upwards of £5,500 in RHI payments every year for 20 years, index linked to inflation.

Total Project Price: £45,000.

Payback Period: 5-6 years. (Combining RHI income & fuel cost saving).

We have also fitted Solar PV to the plant room roof to reduce our electricity bills.

The Renewable Heat Incentive

As well as fuel cost savings of 50-80%, the installation is now accredited into the Renewable Heat Incentive. We are now receiving commercial RHI payments and free fuel from our own woodlands and hedgerows means we can self supply indefinitely.

A project of this size would gain upwards of £5,500 in RHI payments every year for 20 years, index linked to inflation.

The fuel cost savings and RHI payments combined will deliver a payback on the capital cost of the equipment in 5-6 years.

(*Financial information not specific to this project – figures are based on an average of several typical projects of this size. Current information on RHI payments for guidance only, not to be considered a guarantee)