| Scheme: | Replacement of 8 Gas boilers with Biomass Energy Centre |
| Boiler and plant: | Installation of 2x ETA Hack VR 350kW boilers, 2x 10,000 litre buffer tanks and full distribution network to 4 school buildings. Integration into existing heating systems and full control over thenetwork . Existing gas boilers were completely removed. |
| Fuel | The boilers are expected to use around 150 tonnes of wood pellet, producing over 525Mwh of heat per annum. |
| Pellet storage | Dunster designed and constructed underground Woodchip store, with sliding roof arrangement allowing easily tipped deliveries |
| Grant /Funding | The system was funded by the PSDS (Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme) Savings |
| Savings /Investment | Switching from oil, the property is saving on energy bills and removing 94 tonnes of CO2 emissions. Additionally, the income from RHI payments will pay off the capital expenditure of the system. |
| CO2 saving | Compared to gas heating, our wood pellet system reduces CO2 emissions by over 95%, equating to |
| Commissioned | March 2024 |
Replacement of 8 Gas boilers with Biomass Energy Centre
Project overview.
The Corsham School is a large Secondary School in Wiltshire, which several 1960’s constructed buildings which had gas boilers coming to the end of their life.
The scheme was identified as eligible for the PSDS funding, and this application was successfully carried out by ReEnergise Projects. Dunster were successful in the tendering process, and detailed design works were carried out.
The system consists of and underground plant room and chip store, Biomass Plant, 500m of underground heat main & 4 heating interfaces with plate heat exchangers and flow control. Ground was broken in July 2023, with the system fully working by March 2024.
Fuel supply and handling
Of upmost importance to the project was the ease of fuel handling, and with this Dunster designed an underground plant room and fuel store. Although more expensive as a solution than the other submissions, the school saw the benefits of going into the ground.
The practicalities of this were difficult, a high water table and rock formations in the ground proved a challenge for the ground team, but a solid, accessible and discrete energy centre is the result.
The underground nature of the design allows tipped deliveries of woodchip, no need for expensive, slow and noisy blown or auger fed systems, a 30m3 delivery can be deposited in less than 10 minutes, which is a huge advantage in the operation of the whole system
for its lifespan.
