Kerry aims for wood fuelled energy efficiency
A wood-harvesting co-op is being set up to assemble 50,000 cubic metres of woodchip from the county’s 55,000 hectares of forest, owned by about 1,400 local farm families. Use of this fuel will generate 50 MW of heat and 12 MW of electricity. At current prices, the woodchip will be €8 million cheaper than the 10.6 million litres of oil it will replace, and 112 jobs can be generated in woodchip production.
Kerry forests planted in the 1980s and 1990s are now ready for thinning, a maintenance process which adds 25% to final timber value for the owners.
Kerry’s co-op approach to convert thinnings to woodchip for the local market can be built around the county’s existing two forest producer groups and three woodchip supply companies.
“If oil is used as a fuel, 80% of the money goes out of the country, whereas with woodchip, 90% of the money stays in the country and county,” said Kerry county manager Tom Curran.
The Mitchels regeneration project in Tobar Naofa, Tralee, has been a catalyst for the Kerry plan. This 48-unit energy-efficient development is based on a district heating system powered by a 1 MW woodchip boiler.
“We have phase one of the woodchip following on from the one MW woodchip boiler, and by the end of 2011, we will have the first district heating system in place in Kerry. The system will serve 100 housing units, a day-care centre, a national school, a library and an integrated services building. Our aim is to take it forward to phase two to develop a 15 MW combined heat and power unit, and we will be seeking a partner to bring that forward,” Mr Curran told a meeting of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Enterprise, Trade and Innovation.
Also presenting the energy plan were representatives from Kerry rural development groups, the forestry service, Teagasc, and the Institute of Technology, Tralee. The IFA is also part of the team behind the Kerry plan, which is titled Turning Green into Gold. It envisages making Tralee an energy efficient town working off combined heat, with one third of the population of 7,000 to be covered by 2013.
“We are also looking at and working with the private sector in developing a similar system in Killarney,” said Mr Curran.
