Wood for Heat & Power - Wholesale Supply Business - Plunkett Franchise Models
Wood is the original source of heat - people have been burning it since pre-historic times. In recent years, oil and gas have been the preferred options for domestic and commercial use, but this is changing:
- technology has made wood chip boilers more efficient and user-friendly
- wood is now recognised as a carbon-neutral, renewable source of energy
- rising fossil fuel prices mean that wood is a cheaper option
Wood chip can be burnt to generate electricity as well as heat, or both. Wood for chipping derives from three main sources:
- forestry residues from commercial timber production or woodland management
- industrial waste from the manufacture of wooden products
- purpose-grown energy crops such as timber from short rotation coppicing systems
Short rotation coppicing or SRC is where a fast-growing species – usually willow – is harvested on a three-year cycle. This franchise model is primarily concerned with growing SRC as a dedicated energy crop, but it does consider the potential for developing other timber sources.
Farmers are the natural competitors in this field. By forming marketing co-operatives, growers can improve their control of the market place. Aggregating product from several different farms will gain the critical mass necessary to supply power stations, and will also provide the economies of scale needed to develop an infrastructure for supplying medium and small customers in the future. The skills needed to market the product, develop customer relations and administer the business can be paid for collectively by the co-operative. In the long-term, the opportunity exists for producer groups to expand their operations downstream, with the ultimate possibility of the co-operative become a small energy supply company (a mini-ESCO).
Click here to download the Wood for Heat and Power Business Model.