College gets fired up over wood chip

Here at Rural Energy we strive to save our customers money, provide them with green energy and do projects that benefit the local community. Recently at John Cleveland College in Leicestershire we got to tick all three of those boxes and created a little bit of history in the process.

Thanks to our installation of a brand new 800kW Herz BioFire boiler the college saved £30,000 in the first four months of the project alone. They’ve also been able to set-up a fund for the local community and ensured they have secure, clean, green energy for many years to come.

The scheme that led to the installation was the first of its type in the UK. It all began in 2013 when the college started a partnership with the Green Fox Community Energy Co-operative. Together they asked the people of Leicestershire, as well as others all around the country, for donations to help secure their future energy supply.

When they hit their donation target we installed a top of the range wood chip boiler in the college, one that significantly reduces their huge £200,000 per year fuel bill. What’s more by reducing the college’s carbon emissions by around 250 tonnes per year the students, teachers and citizens in the surrounding area will be able to benefit from a cleaner and safer environment.

The final benefit is that we made sure the installation was eligible for the government’s Renewable Heat Incentive (Commercial RHI). This means the college can claim a quarterly income, which along with the savings, is going to be pumped into a Local Community Fund to support initiatives at the college and in the wider community!

You can see our case study on this project here