Water, solar and... oat husks - The Flahavan's recipe for running its porridge operations

Rather than using oat husks in animal feed, Flahavan's have fed them into its boiler since 1985, saving themselves €300k a year on diesel. Of course, this was 50 years after the Waterford firm bought its first water turbine and they've been on that sustainability road ever since, writes Neil Michael.

Wed, 05 Jan, 2022 - 12:26

Their name may well be synonymous with porridge oats and toasty granola.

But, now Flahavan's is gaining a name for itself from something else entirely: sustainability. And it’s something current MD John Flahavan started practising long before renewables and sustainability become as common in conversation as they are now.

Indeed, he is carrying on from a tradition of using renewables practised by his ancestors for centuries. The company’s mill stream, which was dug out by hand more than 200 years ago, was always used to power the mill wheel.

It has been replaced by a water turbine, which was purchased in 1935, but which has since been upgraded with a modern generator and controls to provide green electricity to the plant.

The water turbine contributes approximately 3% of electricity requirements to assist with powering the mill and saves the company about €8,000 annually, based on 2020 energy costs.

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Flahavan's Boiler Operator Eamon Power checking on the mill’s boiler which generates the heat and steam required during the milling process. Photo: Neil Michael

At Flahavan’s, they kiln the oats with the outer husk on and the husk is then removed and burned to power the boiler, which generates the heat and steam required for during the milling process. All of the heat requirements used in the mill come from this boiler, using approximately 960 tonnes of oat husk annually to fuel it.

The first oat husk boiler was introduced to the plant in 1985. Before this an oil-fired boiler was in place and the oat husks were used as an ingredient in animal feed, which was a key strand of the Flahavan’s business until the 1990s.

Flahavan's oat husk boiler uses approximately 960 tonnes of oat husk annually and saves them €300,000-a-year in diesel bills. Photo: Neil Michael

The company feeds the oat husks - the outer shells from the 1,666 tonnes of oats milled each month - into the boiler each month, which is equivalent to 4.25M kWh per year. If they had to use diesel to fire the boiler, they would have to pay out €300k per year.

In 2017, they installed solar panels on the roof of their grain store with a nominal rated capacity of 130 kW and this generated 110 MWh in 2020. All new replacement lights have been upgraded to LED and they are currently in the process of replacing older light fittings with these highly efficient bulbs.

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The oats for the company’s Progress Oatlets are sourced from local farmers within a 60-mile radius of the mill in Kilmacthomas, some of whom have been supplying for generations. The company’s annual electricity requirements are 2.4M kWh, which is about as much energy as a village of around 580 houses.

To meet this demand, the firm produces 1.6M kWh from its wind and water turbines and its solar panels.

Flahavan's solar panels were installed in 2017 and save the company around €13,000-a-year in energy bills. Photo: Neil Michael

The solar panels, which are laid out across the roof of the grain store, cost the company initially €100,000 and were installed by Waterford firm Enerpower.

The solar panels have a rated capacity of 130kW of energy and generated 110mW of energy in 2020. They save the company around €13,000-a-year in energy bills.

Flahavan's wind turbine which is used to help power Kilnagrange Mills, at Flahavan's, Kilmacthomas, Co. Waterford. Photo: Neil Michael

The 500 kW wind turbine, which was bought second-hand from Germany in 2015, cost around €600,000 to buy and install. As well as generating 1.44M kWh of electricity - or around 60% of their annual requirements - every year, it also saves the company around €170,000 and is the company’s biggest power generator.

Johnny Flahavan said: “At Flahavan’s, we have understood for many years the importance of working in harmony with nature and minimising our business’s impact on our environment and our community.

“That comes, in part, from having such a long history and heritage and understanding that we are mere custodians of our environment for future generations.

Johnny Flahavan: “We have understood for many years the importance of working in harmony with nature. Photo: Neil Michael

“We have made positive strides forward in improving the sustainability credentials of our manufacturing processes over the past decade and we have seen the benefits of these investments over time."

If their green credentials weren’t well, green enough from all of the above, the company went a step further in March last year.

This is when they completed their integrated construction wetland (ICW).

David Coffey at work at Flahavan's reed beds which function like a wetlands. Photo: Neil Michael

It’s a natural reed bed-based wastewater treatment system that functions like a wetlands and is a filtration system based around a number of sediment ponds and filtration ponds.

But the company is still looking to improve its use of renewables back at the plant.