Willow provides greener solution to leading stud farm’s heating needs

ONE of Ireland’s leading wood energy companies has teamed up with a world-famous stud farm to provide a cleaner, greener solution to some of its heating needs, right on its own doorstep.

Natural Power Supply has fitted an energy cabin at the renowned Coolmore Stud, a hub which will allow a house on the estate to be heated using wood chips and solar panels. It is one of the latest green initiatives at Coolmore, an extensive stud farm in south Tipperary which lies on some of Ireland’s best land.

The business is internationally recognised as the ‘home of champions’.

Coolmore already features an extensive bio-filtering waste water system through the use of willows.

Willow consumes all the waste water at Coolmore as part of its natural growth cycle — a process which is an effective, sustainable and environmentally friendly way of treating a waste product and one which does not allow the produce to re-enter the human food chain.

Once the willow at Coolmore has grown and matured, it is harvested locally to provide wood chip to fuel the boilers, so a crop grown to treat waste water is itself being turned into a fuel to heat the home.

Natural Power Supply was the first company to demonstrate bio-filtration on a large scale using willow in 2003.

Managing director James Kennedy said that the company has helped Coolmore to go one step further by having a renewable heat energy source.

“We were delighted to work with the Coolmore team and advise them on the best system to suit their needs. The energy cabin features all the elements of their renewable heating source at one hub.

“Coolmore, like a lot of large enterprises, was once heavily reliant on fossil fuels such as oil. This switch from oil is commendable and we hope even more large operations might follow suit,” Mr Kennedy said.

Horses are the local passion around Fethard in Tipperary where Coolmore is based.

The Magnier family put the area on the international map, offering Ireland’s and the world’s most discerning breeders access to champions while employing several of the world’s finest natural horsemen in Ireland, the US and Australia.

Coolmore was founded by John Magnier, his father-in-law and legendary trainer Vincent O’Brien, and Robert Sangster.

The stud operation is still led by John Magnier today.