CAT to save energy with wood chip generator

The Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT), the Welsh educational centre for all things green, is installing a snazzy new combined heat and power (CHP) generator. Powered by woodchips, it promises to be more than 80 per cent efficient when running on full power.

The Talbotts BG100 generator will burn woodchips to produce 100kW of electricity for use in the centre -- enough to power around 50 houses -- as well as 250kW of heat. The unit, which is about the size of a couple of shipping containers, will be run to fit the centre's power and heating needs as closely as possible, says CAT.

By catching the heat from the burning chips after generating electricity and using it to heat water for hot water supply, the generator is far more efficient than traditional models, which simply waste this heat energy by releasing it into the atmosphere. Thick, insulated pipes have been laid under the CAT site, to transport hot water to the various buildings for heating.

"This will be the first small-scale woodchip CHP system in Britain where both the electricity and heat are used," says CAT Engineer Katie Brown. "The woodchip is forestry waste from trees four miles up the road, so there are very few emissions caused by transporting the fuel."

A new building has been built to house the generator as well, which is the first building in the UK to use blocks made from Ibstock Ecoterre clay blocks. These blocks are the perfect choice because not only do they use less energy, because they are dried using waste heat from a brick kiln rather than being fired like normal cement block -- but they also block the sound from the noisy generator as well.

The new generator is a vital step, as next year the £6.2 million Wales Institute for Sustainable Education (WISE) will open at the centre to provide more facilities for education.

Photo: CAT

Related Links

• SmartPlanet