Our Case Studies

Ansty Manor, Wiltshire

This case study provides details of a biomass boiler in a large domestic house with a swimming pool.

Fernhill Farm

Fernhill Farm is an ambitious renovation of a derelict 17^th century farmhouse and farm buildings linked by a mini district heating scheme.

Wills Barn, Yeo Valley Organic

This case study provides details of a domestic scale biomass boiler in a low energy building used for educational visits, training and conferences.

Blogs

Rokwood : Major EU project looks to accelerate woody energy crops industry

Crops for Energy is one of 20 partners from six countries involved in a major European Union project called ROKWOOD: European regions fostering innovation for sustainable production and efficient use of woody biomass.

Energy Crops Scheme – Time is running out

The Energy Crops Scheme administered by Natural England will close to applications on the 31^st August 2013. As long as an application is approved before the end of December 2013 planting can take place in the spring of 2014 or 2015.

Can energy crops damage your health?

A recent scientific article suggests that growing fast growing woody energy crops such as willow, poplar and eucalyptus could lead to increased human mortality and reduce crop yields. See: Impacts of biofuel cultivation on mortality and crop yields

CAP Reform 2014-2020 C4E’s Position Statement

In this blog we address the possible implications of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reform process on the woody energy crops industry. Our response is based on the outcome of the latest vote of the Agriculture and Rural Development Committee at the European Parliament on 23/01/2013.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT REGULATION

ARTICLE 18: Investment in Physical Assets

DECC Wetlands Biomass to Bioenergy Competition

Crops for Energy is delighted to be involved with a consortium looking at innovative ways to deal with biomass produced from wetlands management. The project is supported by the the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC’s ) £2 million wetlands biomass to bioenergy competition and aims is to provide an end to end process tha

Hassle free RHI accreditations

So you’ve got the biomass boiler installed and you’re starting to enjoy guilt free/low cost renewable heat. All that’s left to do is to get the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) accreditation from Ofgem and wait for the cheques to start rolling in.

However, on downloading or printing out the 225 pages of RHI guidance documents from the Ofgem website you might suddenly get a sinking feeling. Unfortunately, the RHI accreditation process is quite technically demanding (especially for biomass rookies) and very time consuming.

SW Farmers – don’t miss out on free renewable energy consultancy!

Farmers in the south west of England are eligible for free and discounted consultancy through the Resource Efficiency for Farms (R4F) scheme delivered by Rural Focus. This is an amazing opportunity and we at Crops for Energy are constantly amazed by how few farmers know about the service.

Food vs Fuel - Do us a favour

By working in the energy crops sector we are all the time coming up against the food versus fuel argument. People will say – “Shouldn’t we be growing food rather than planting crops to burn?” My argument is that we need to get the best possible return from our meagre land resources. We should be striving for agricultural practices that integrate food and fuel rather than a system that excludes one or the other.

Renewable Heat Incentive: C4E's Consultation Response

This is our response to the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) consultation on the anticipated Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive and Phase 2 of the non-domestic RHI. All our points involve possible implications of the consultation on biomass heating systems and in particular focus on the self supply of energy crops (e.g. willow and miscanthus) or from undermanaged woodlands.

Willow Varietal Identification Guide

A publication has been published which for the first time brings together all the information about the currently available biomass willow (Salix spp) varieties for growing as short rotation coppice (SRC). The publication was written by Kevin Lindegaard of Crops for Energy Ltd and published by Teagasc and AFBI.

Our Case Studies

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