News archive - Week ending 3rd August 2007

Distillery Biomass Scheme Extended

Waste heat from the Pulteney Distillery in Wick is already being piped into homes but from October Caithness General Hospital will also be connected to the scheme. The Caithness Heat and Power (CHaP) project has been providing energy to 270 homes since last December from a wood-burning source at the malt whisky distillery. The aim of the project has been to improve energy efficiency and tackle fuel poverty. Those connected to the scheme are believed to be saving between £15 to £20 a week.

Expansion of the project over coming months will see not only the hospital but a total of around 500 council-owned homes, Wick High School and the town's care home all linked to the scheme. The long term aim is to have the whole of Wick on the district heating scheme, so the town becomes carbon neutral.

CHaP was set up in 2005 as a not-for-profit partnership between Pulteney Distillery, Highland Council and Pulteneytown People's Project. At the time the idea that excess thermal energy generated in whisky distillation could be boosted to a higher temperature in a woodchip-fired boiler was considered pioneering but workable. It received initial funding from the European Regional Development Fund and Energy Saving Trust. When it becomes fully operational later this year, the plant will require 30,000 tons of woodchip annually. At present, forests around Caithness could supply its needs for 25 years.

After visiting the Pulteney Distillery, Environment Minister Mike Russell said the pioneering scheme had the potential to be used elsewhere in Scotland. "I was enormously impressed by this project," he said. "This is world-beating technology providing a valuable service to the hospital and community of Wick. This a model district heating scheme that I hope will inspire co-operative action in many other towns around Scotland." Mr Russell announced that a £3m funding package would be provided to create woodlands to help allay fears that biomass businesses would be a threat to forestry. The Minister estimated that the creation of around 2000 hectares of forest would be needed to supply the industry.

Aberdeen to Get a Wind Monitoring Mast

A 295-foot high wind monitoring mast may be built on the outskirts of Aberdeen to test the potential of a renewable energy installation. The mast, which would be sited at Tarbothill Farm north of Bridge of Don, has been proposed by the Aberdeen Offshore Wind Farm company, which is a partnership of project services firm Amec and Aberdeen Renewable Energy Group.

Amec's Wind Energy Director Robert East said that the move was necessary to assess the feasibility of a 23 or 24-turbine wind farm, which the group plans to build two miles from the shore.