Heat produced thanks to a wood boiler house can be used for collective housing or district heating (in an urban or rural context). These automatic boiler houses are supplied with products related to forestry and wood industry which are available locally (bark, sawdust, wood chips, pellets and waste wood). The techniques used in these boiler houses are efficient and modern. They make it possible to heat either one or several buildings thanks to district heating.
It currently exists many references of collective boiler houses ranging from 50kW to several MW. For example : in France, more than 1000 collective boiler houses have been installed and supported by the Wood Energy Plan since 1994, bringing the number of collective boiler houses to more than 2000 units. In Austria, there are more than 2000 installations.
Wood boiler houses are completely automatic and they are operated in the same way as other energies. Nonetheless, the implementation of a wood boiler house is more complex and it requires a feasibility study.
The choice of boiler type, fuel feeding technology and silo will depend on the characteristics of the project :
- the energy needs of the project allow to define the power of the boiler to be installed and the coolant (hot water, overheated water, steam).
- The fuel available allows to define the furnace type (functions of its nature, grading and moisture content), the feeding system and the method of delivery.
District heating can be present in villages or small companies (from 100 kW to 5 MW) and also in the industry or the cities and supply them completely or partially (from 5 to 500 MW). District heating consists of 3 main elements :
The heat production plant : it can consists of one or several production units.
Consumers : industries, town buildings, stores, hospitals, schools, offices or collective housing.
In between, a preinsulated pipe net enables the transport of the heat.
District heating offers many benefits : mutualise the investments of the users, run the boiler house through a professional and thus have a better technical follow up and diversify its energy resources.
