Previously heated by ageing Powrmatic oil-fired blowers, which were becoming unreliable after a long service life, this commercial glasshouse plant nursery in Honiton, Devon has come bang up to date with a new ETA Hack 350 biomass boiler installed by Commercial Biomass.
“Thanks so much to Commercial Biomass Ltd. The heating system is amazing – easy to use, and it gives a lovely even heat throughout. It’s transformed the growing space. Great job!”
The boilerhouse takes up just 8m x 4.5m, a small proportion of the overall growing space, and is home to the ETA Hack 350kW biomass boiler, 10,000 litres of buffer storage and all the necessary pumps and valves that make the boiler work to its maximum efficiency. A grain silo, connected to and controlled by the boiler via a centreless auger system, supplies the fuel to the installation.
All water on site is from a borehole supply, so the nursery needed a stored water system with its own pump connected to a backup generator. This kicks in to supply emergency cooling in the event of a power cut and, with all the overhead power lines in the wilds of Devon, there are quite a few power cuts.
Project summary
Biomass Boiler: ETA Hack 350 kW
Fuel: Wood pellets
Fuels store: 23 Tonne Capacity Silo
Heating system: Fan coil heaters, 2 Zones
Projected payback
The RHI tariff in force at the time of accreditation was in the medium band for biomass, making Tier 1 payable at £0.0524 per Kilowatt and Tier 2 at £0.0227 per Kilowatt. This gives the nursery a payback on Tier 1 alone of £24,099 per year, which is RPI linked for 20 years. On these figures the installation cost is paid back in less than five years, giving a profit of £361,481 over the full term of the RHI. Profits will increase even more when the price of heating oil rises.