Renewable energy – it grows on trees Balcas

RENEWABLE ENERGY

IT GROWS ON TREES

Balcas is not only one of Britain and Ireland’s largest wood suppliers, it is also Balcas is not only one of Britain and Ireland’s largest wood suppliers, it is also pioneering biomass renewable energy with wood pellet fuel. Peter Mercer reports. pioneering biomass renewable energy with wood pellet fuel. Peter Mercer reports.

Balcas is a Northern Ireland based supplier of timber products. Since its first sawmill began operating in 1962 it has grown organically and through acquisitions to become a major supplier of construction timber, fencing materials, pallet wood components and MDF mouldings to markets in the UK and Ireland. But what sets Balcas apart is that it has also pioneered the development of biomass renewable energy in the British Isles. Its ‘brites’ branded wood pellets are today widely recognised as a convenient sustainable fuel and a wholly practicable alternative to oil and gas heating. In fact thousands of the company’s wood pellets are regularly used in wood fuel boilers and wood burning stoves in homes, businesses and institutions throughout the UK and Ireland.

Now Balcas has taken its renewable energy business into a complete new dimension by offering Energy Supply Contracts to industrial customers that include not only the supply of brites fuel pellets but also the installation of biomass boilers to replace oil or gas burning equipment. In February of this year the Tomatin whisky distillery near Inverness became the first company to benefit from what Balcas now calls its Integrated Energy Proposition.

It began with self-sufficiency

Despite these radical new ventures, conventional timber products still account for the greater part of the company’s business. Balcas currently operates two sawmills – a 72 acre facility at Enniskillen, in Northern Ireland, that has an annual capacity of more than 260,000 cubic metres of sawn timber a year and a 30 acre site at Vaida, in Estonia, that can produce more than 70,000 cubic metres of sawn timber a year. MDF mouldings for the architectural and house building sectors are produced at a 12 acre site at Kildare, Ireland, Wood pellet production takes place at the Enniskillen site and at Invergordon in Scotland; at both sites combined heat and power (CHP) plants deliver heat to produce the pellets and significant quantities of electricity.

“We began construction of our first biomass CHP plant at the Enniskillen sawmill in 2004,” explains Sales & Marketing Director Richard Greenaway. “We wanted to become self-sufficient in power for the plant – sawmills use a lot of electricity – and we had a great deal of waste raw materials sitting there that we could use as fuel. Then we realised that we could use the residual heat output from the CHP unit to dry locally sourced woodfibre which could then be processed into high-energy fuel pellets. These pellets were marketed under our brites brand and are now replacing some 750 million litres of oil fuel in homes, commercial premises and industrial sites,

“This venture was so successful that in 2007 we began construction of a CHP plant at Invergordon, in Scotland, that was wholly dedicated to producing electricity and brites pellets. Today the Enniskillen plant produces around 50,000 tons of brites a year and Invergordon some 115,000 tons. We set up a brites bagging facility at Enniskillen in 2007 so we can supply brites to both northern and southern Ireland in bags or in 3 ton loads. Our wood pellet fuel is widely used not just in homes but also hotels, schools and hospitals; Enniskillen hospital, for example, uses 7000 tons of our brites pellets a year to meet all its heating requirements, replacing its former gas boilers.”

The invergordon plant is focused on producing brites primarily for biomass boilers in businesses and institutions such as distilleries, hospitals, hotels and bakeries, where there is a need for a sustained heat load. Some production is currently exported to Holland and Denmark but it is expected that by mid-2015 Balcas will have developed its commercial and institutional markets in Scotland and the rest of the UK to the point where they will absorb all of Invergordon’s pellet production.

The Estonian mill

Balcas acquired its sawmill in Estonia in 1996, primarily to extend its range of structural timber products for the construction market. “Irish pine and spruce trees are relatively fast-growing and provide timber only up to grade C16,” explains Richard Greenaway. “That’s fine for house-building but you need slower grown stronger timber for large load bearing spars, for example. Baltic pine and spruce is significantly slower growing – around 35 years against 25 for Irish trees – so we looked around and found an old mill near Tallinn. We invested in new kilns, cleaning and grading equipment and the mill is now turning out around 72,000m3 a year of C16, C24 and TR26 grade timber products. This output completes our offer of construction timber to the UK and Irish markets.”

Suppliers of Industrial Flexible Bulk Packaging & Woodcovers for Timber

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Lonza

BALCAS now uses next generation TANALITH E wood preservative from Lonza in their timber treatment operations to produce high performance TANALISED fencing and construction timbers for their customers. BALCAS has used TANALITH brand preservatives for over 50 years to provide assured long term protection against decay and insect attack and the use of this latest generation formulation together with their quality treatment procedures has gained BALCAS the coveted Treat-Right accolade from Lonza.

BALCAS has also invested in the latest EXCALIBUR incising technology from Lonza to help provide the very best performance ground contact fencing timbers for their markets.

Greif

Greif Flexibles Products and Services was created in 2010 through the acquisitions of Storsack, Litgermot, Sunjut and Unsa. Greif Flexibles Products and Services provide FIBC’s, Woodcovers, Shipping sacks, and other Flexible packaging for the chemical, pharmaceutical, agricultural, wood industry and many other sectors. We also offer a full portfolio of technical textiles and other flexible industrial products. We are committed to being our customers productivity partner, bringing efficiency to their supply chain through a comprehensive and innovative product portfolio, an extensive and integrated manufacturing network, technical expertise and local customer service. With our extensive manufacturing and customer service network, Greif Flexibles can supply products where and when you need them. With our Technical, Quality and Account Management teams, our products consistently meet your most challenging needs. We possess the experience, knowledge and resources to be your productivity partner.

Renewable energy for Tomatin

This February, Tomatin whisky distillery, near Inverness, became the first Scottish distillery to benefit from Balcas’ new Energy Supply Contract offer, in which the Northern Irish company not only supplies the biomass fuel but also carries out the installation of a sustainable biomass-burning boiler. The new boiler replaces the distillery’s previous heavy fuel oil boiler to produce heat and steam for the whisky making process, enabling it to cut its carbon emissions by 80 per cent, a reduction of 4000 tons of CO2 per year. That’s equivalent to taking 1200 family cars off the road.

Ernest Kidney, managing director of Balcas, and Robert Anderson, chief executive of Tomatin Distillery, presented an overview of the environmental and economic benefits of the new biomass steam boiler to Lord Smith of Kelvin, the Chairman of the UK’s Green Investment bank, which part-financed the project. Mr Kidney said, “Tomatin is the first company to benefit from our unique integrated energy proposition and I congratulate than on achieving their carbon reduction targets for 2050 – 36 years ahead of schedule! Given that the government’s Renewable Hear Incentive is for the next 20 years, we believe that having a world class solution for the supply of steam in an industrial or commercial setting, backed with security of supply for the next 20 years, will be a decisive factor for many customers in the marketplace,”

In fact, Balcas already has another five Scottish distilleries signed up for its Energy Supply Contract so it looks like there is a bright future for its sustainable biomass pellets. n