If you are interested in producing woodfuel, you may have access various sources of raw materials which have the potential to be turned into wood energy. Forests can be managed to produce woodfuel as an additional product. Sawmill co-products including offcuts, slabwood, sawdust and shavings, can all be used for energy. Crops such as Short Rotation Forestry and Short Rotation Coppice can be purpose-grown for energy, and recycle wood is a huge potential source of energy.
Click here for wood fuel supply chain diagram
Supply chains can be developed in various of ways depending on a number of factors:
- available markets will determine product type and volume, e.g through market research to determine grade of woodchips required.
- available resource will determine which products can be supplied as outlined above.
- harvesting systems will depend on the timber resource, available equipment, ground conditions and the end product.
- drying and processing can be carried out on site or transported to a central processing site. Transport, storage and processing options will depend on available vehicles and distances, type of storage facilities, drying and chipping equipment and the end product.
- delivery may depend on the customers storage facilities, i.e. a hopper may need a high-lift tipper or a bulk bag lifted by crane. Delivery options include loose logs, logs in net bags, loose chips or bulk bags of chips; pellets in plastic sacks or in bulk loads.
Potential supply chain options are shown in the figure. As illustrated, the wood fuel supply chain covers a large range of industries including: forestry; farming; timber processing; machinery and equipment manufacturers and dealers. To develop a robust woodfuel industry, those in the supply chain need links with the heating equipment manufacturers, suppliers and installers; energy supply companies; consultants; transport and advisory and grant-awarding bodies. The increased use of woodfuel in Scotland depends on all these elements being accessible. The development of clusters of these resources across Scotland will aid the development of the woodfuel.