Goulding's Garden Centre in the Clyde Valley will soon be producing free energy to heat the business thanks to the installation of two biomass boilers.
"There aren't any catches with this renewable energy, and once the initial outlay has been paid for through energy savings then the system produces free heating," says George Goulding.
“The new heating system has made a huge difference to the garden centre. I would certainly recommend it to other garden centres because it’s both energy efficient and a cost effective way of heating a business.”
Before George had the first boiler installed, heating bills for the garden centre, accommodation and glasshouses stood at £35,000 a year.
Scot Heating convinced George of the benefits of having biomass and said that the Goulding's site had the capacity for two boilers. It was decided that one boiler would do the job initially.
The initial outlay for one biomass boiler and all the piping was £150,000, which was funded by a five-year bank loan. The cost of the wood chip fuel for the boiler is £8,000 per year, which has been offset by a Renewable Heat Incentive from the Scottish Government for £16,000 paid annually for 20 years. The incentive is also index linked.
“Bearing in mind our annual heating bill for oil was £35,000, (2013 oil prices) the original boiler will have paid for itself in just over four years,” added George.
A second biomass boiler has now been installed at a cost of £75,000 with a wood chip bill of £8,000, and the garden centre receives a further £16,000 per year Renewable Heat Incentive.
“As far as I’m concerned it’s a ‘no brainer’ as we won’t have any heating bills in the future. Once the loans for the two boilers are paid Goulding’s Garden Centre will be £40,500 better off. This is based on today’s low fuel price therefore the higher the fuel price the bigger the saving."
A full report on Goulding's switch to biomass boilers will appear in the March issue of Garden Trade News.
