Highland High School Eco Heating Makes Money For Council

22nd May 2012

A High School in the Highlands is seeing significant reductions in its heating bills thanks to the installation of a renewable heating system by Scotland's leading biomass company.

The biomass heating system at Lochaber High School in Fort William was installed by national biomass heat specialists HW Energy in March last year. Prior to the installation the school was spending up to 170,000 a year on oil.

Speaking about the project, Jim Sutherland, Head teacher of Lochaber High School, said: "The biomass system complements the 26 million refurbishment and rebuilding programme which is underway and will see our school building brought up to 21st century standards. Since being installed it has proved to be very efficient and reliable and aesthetically it fits in well with our new buildings. The older school buildings are not well insulated which makes them difficult, and expensive to heat. The biomass system, alongside our improvement works, will ensure that it costs us less to keep warm and will help us to use energy in a more efficient way."

The new biomass system comes as part of the Highland Council strategy to move onto eco-friendly heating systems and also forms part of the multi-million pound refurbishment to improve facilities and overall standards for Lochaber High School's 860 students.

The estimated 40,000 annual income will be available to the Highland Council as part of the Government's Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI), a payment system given to non-domestic properties generating heat through renewable energy sources. Introduced in November last year, HW Energy was the first Scottish company to be successful in having biomass systems accredited under the scheme.

As part of their contract, HW Energy is also delivering 300 tonnes of wood chip per annum to heat the school as well undertaking all the fuel supply and maintenance of the system.

And for HW Energy's Managing Director, Bruno Berardelli, the fact that this fuel is sourced from Scotland is another reason he believes the country is likely to see an increase in biomass heating. "All our fuel is sourced from Scottish Forestry operations", said Mr Berardelli "and for us that's really important.

"As a Scottish company, using Scotland for our supply chain means we're reinvesting in the local economy, helping communities improve and sustain their buildings and helping them secure cash returns through their use of renewable energy sources."

Councillor Bill Fernie the former chairman of Education, Culture and Sport Committee said,"The increasing oil prices made us look seriously at alternatives for our schools heating systems. The bio mass boilers now being installed in our schools will make major savings and derive badly needed income. We also recently purchased 20 biomass units for some of our smaller schools and these also will reduce the heating costs significantly."