Look beyond fuel costs and consider logistics to see how a biomass boiler might fit with the farm business.The three key areas to focus on are fuel sourcing, storage, and supply to the boiler, says David Turley of the National Non-Food Crops Centre (NNFCC)."If you're looking at supplying your own fuel from an area of woodland then woodchips could be the way to go."As well as needing enough woodland, self-supply requires labour to process timber, plus sufficient space for storing seasoned wood and chips, he notes. "Chips have about one-third of the energy density of pellets, so storage can be an issue."
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