News

August 2010

Wow! Has it really been a whole year since the last entry. It's not that I've been ignoring you, dear Reader, but as you can imagine we have been incredibly busy.

Wood fuel has started after so many false hopes to show a decent level of pick up in the UK. Unfortunately the Feed in Tariffs and Renewable Heat Incentives brought in by the government to encourage people to take up renewable energy have little impact as most systems are ineligible for the payments. Still relying on wind and solar - both much more expensive and less efficient than wood.

The great thing is that so many people are not relying on the government to get anything done and have taken the decision to switch to wood regardless. the savings they make over oil and gas will easily make up for the lack of government financial support anyway.

OK, now back to the past year.

You will recall, dear Reader, that on my last post I mentioned we were installing a British made pellet press to improve our production. Unfortunately this turned out to be a false hope and it didn't work.

After a lot of effort trying and trying we finally gave up after 8 months and installed a second hand Chinese press to compliment our original small Chinese press. I spent a lot of time (and money) trying to make it work as I believe Britain lacks a credible machine and that is something I would like to see changed. Anyway our Chinese one at a fraction of the cost is now working flat out to make up the shortfall.

Sales have continued to increase over the whole year. The very cold winter was  bonus for us. I realise that many people suffered from the effects of fuel poverty in that they could not afford to put on the gas heating. At least our customers were snug and warm at an affordable price. We have continued to work with Green Dream Innovations to develop a pellet feed system for standard log stoves which will reduce the cost of using pellets for small scale users. The hard ware is only a couple of hundred pounds compared to over a thousand (and more) for a purpose built pellet stove. It is still early days yet and we are talking to stove manufacturers about building a range of stoves with the device already built in.

We have increased our retail stockists and are continuing to add more with a few due this winter. Our relationship with Gwent Fire and Bernard has gone from strength to strength. We have worked on an fully integrated service including survey, installation, maintenance and fuel supply of guaranteed quality to ensure the customer gets exactly what they need for trouble free warmth.

We have just posted our first year results at Companies House. We are very pleased to have shown just a small loss for our first year of trading. If you consider that this was from a standing start, with no help from the government (and we had to pay them all sorts of fees), no help from the banks and we had to fully equip the factory we are justifiably looking forward to our second year with a lot less dread.

Still no help available from the government (they say they have made a policy decision not to support small scale wood fuel production in Wales), or from the banks (they still won't support small start ups in new industries). But we hope we will continue to deserve the support of our customers.

We are now looking forward to the end of summer and another good winter for us. If you know anyone, dear Reader, who might be affected by fuel poverty and can't afford to keep themselves warm, please get in touch an we will see what we can do the help. We are still working with Transition Monmouth and have ideas within the group on how we can provide affordable heat.

August 2009

After the temporary blip for July we are busy again. Sales up by a record 110% on the previous month - although as you know July was a bit slow so this is a bit unfair ont he rest of the months. However, August has proved to be our third best month so far. So there is a silver lining to all these clouds (at least for us - sorry to be selfish). Overall, since we set out our average increase in monthly sales is jsut over 20%.

Bernard at Gwent Fires Installations is still as busy as ever, and other installers tell me the same thing. Installations are on the up. Just goes to show what lots of individuals acting seperately in the same direction can acheive. One installer tells me that the wood fuelled installations they have carried out, have done more to combat peak oil and climate change that all of their solar panels, ground source heat pumps and other renewables put together, even though they have only done a (relative) few. This is in spite of the lack of funding support for wood fuel whereas the emphasis has been on these other installations which have attracted grants but have a lesser overall impact on carbon savings. Ho hum.

The most interesting use we have for pellets this month comes from a bakery, which has pellet ovens for baking bread and cakes. Fanstastic. They use local or sustainable flour and other ingredients, and now can cook with local fuel. Ideal Transition stuff.

We have also been asked to assist with the marketing of a revolutionary invention, by a Monmouth man, which will retro fit wood stoves to be able to burn wood pellets. This should make the option to shift from gas central heating to something more sustainable even cheaper.

Watch this space, dear Reader, for news of when the devices will join our showroom set.

The highlight of the month was our stand at the Monmouthshire Show. We met a lot of people who were thinking about switching from expensive oil and LPG installations. Also more horse owners who are looking for a better alternative to straw. We also made more contacts with people from the industry. Some of these are from companies or organisations promoting sustainable energy. Some were just as frustrated as we were about the lack of support for a locally sustainable pellet industry in Britain. Although they promote and install products which can make a terrific impact on peak oil and climate change, they then have to offer fuel supplies which travel long distances, by ship and road, which kind of defeats the object.

Although we still can't (yet) compete on price with the importers, at least we can give these colleagues an option to offer to customers who are able or willing to look beyond the bottom line.

We have done a deal to install a new, British, and locally, made pellet press, which should be installed by November and comes wiht some of the automation we need to become more efficient. More importantly it will allow us to increase our manfuacturing capacity and meet the growing demand. I will do a more in depth report on the machinery once we have it, including pictures. So once again watch this space.

July 2009

This seems to be the month where the summer really hits. Sales have dropped off, as people start to benefit from the warmer days and nights, and also go on holiday.

We have been taking the opportunity to begin to prepare the front of the factory for the installation of a showroom. We will be working with Gwent Fire Installations www.fireinstallations.co.uk to provide customers with examples of stoves and boilers in working order, and also to provide the full fuel supply and long term maintenance services required to give security to customers.

We hope to have the showroom up and running by the end of September. Why not pay us a visit?

June 2009

Well summer is here! All the predictions that wood fuel is a seasonal product, while probably true for heating, doesn't seem to affect people who want to have hot water. This is what we told the banks and City investors, but it's still nice to be able to prove them wrong.

Sales have only increased on last month by 48% so there has been a dip in the rate of increase! I wonder how Gordon woudl feel if the country's economy was picking up at this rate?

We have had some very interesting customers this month. One of them will be using our briquettes to provide fuel for his steam powered boat. Fantastic idea! take sup less room than logs and is much cleaner than coal. And the tiny amount of ash can be added to the river bank along the way without the need to store toxic coal ash for the journey.

We are also still getting an increasing number of enquiries for pellets to be used as animal bedding. Mainly for horses, but also for guinea pig breeders and hamster owners. The form and function of pellets makes them ideal for this purpose as they have little dust and the wet patches are obvious so the mucking out proves to be very efficient and only wastes what is used. Also the bulk density is much lower than straw so saves an awful lot of space and handling.

May 2009

The weather seems to be doiing us a favour. Even though there has been some warm days the rain and chilly evenings must be keeping the heating on. Our sales have increased on April by jsut over 100%.

There are so many people out there who share our philosophy that local is best. It is very heart warming and, if I am honest, relieving.

As you know, regular reader, we have had a very disappointing time with institutions. It can make you feel that everyone thinks the same as civil servants, banks and City investors. While we have been out and about we have found that an awful lot of people consider the policies and lack of support to be just as much out of touch as we do.

Under the Transition model, people are encouraged not to put their faith in political leaders and big institutions to find the solutions to peak oil and climate change. They are encouraged to build this from within their own community. I am very happy to say that, with a growing optimism, that Treenergy will grow from strength to strength, with the support of our customers and those who are thinking of taking control of their own energy choices. 

April 2009

Best sales month so far. Up 82% on March. We hope we can keep this up as we approach the summer. We are still eyeing up machinery to help us improve the factory. But until we can sustain this level of sales we will have to make do and mend. All good for the sustainability and transition model, but still hard graft.

There are signs that the banks are being brought to heel for not helping small businesses. I won't hold my breath.

There is news that a new all Wales grant will soon be in place. This is the Wood Energy Business Scheme (2) - WEBS2. Unfortunately, it is weighted to give a smaller proportion of aid to Monmouthshire and also is more aimed at supporting the installation or demand side rather than production and supply.

At least it will encourage people to install boilers in their businesses and we might pick up some sales from those companies who want to buy local. Of course this would mean they can afford the higher match funding requirement for Monmouthshire or will be able to pay the transport costs to neighbouring counties. In these constrained times it remains to be seen whether there are businesses who will take up the grant for environmental and financial reasons, and who are also willing to avoid cheap imported wood pellets. Bottom lines often make these choices rather than people.

March 2009

Our full compliment of machinery has now all arrived and is in place. It will need some work to assemble everything and I'm sure we will be moving things around several times before we find the optimum location for all of it.

The lack of grants and support from the banks means we need to use less efficient machinery which is labour intensive. Everything is much harder than it would be with some automation. The plus side is that I am getting very fit shovelling sawdust and moving pallets around!

The down side is that the production is not as efficient as I woudl like. This means that our prices remain high compared to the many importers who advertise on the web. We are picking up some good orders though from people who value the short distance our product travels compared to material from the US and Far East.

February 2009

We are well and truly up and running. Sales are increasing due to the cold spell. We have been working hard to get our factory into a suitable condition for habitation. As a symbol of the decline in Hadnock Road, our building is a great example. Once it housed a busy laundry, employing many local people. Over time it became a scrap yard for vehicles. Now we hope to bring it back to something of its former status as a local employer, employing local people, making things out of local produce.

January 2009

 Well, I'm back. Sorry it has been so long. We have been fighting to get our project delivered as envisaged. It would appear that the world has not quite caught up.

We have had to rethink the whole project. Hence the rewrite of the website. Regular readers will note that we have reduced the project (for now to woodfuel production and supply). Local CHP, fair trade, synergy between local businesses, decent packages for employees, community project funding from company profits and education are not as high on the agenda of the Welsh Assembly Government or the City as they are for us. We live in hope.

The Welsh Assembly government and the UK government does not support locally sustainable heat and power generation through any grants or other funding packages. Planning and permitting are still as large a barrier as ever. We could not get any support to finance the planning and permitting stage of the project. WAG and their funding agency, Finance Wales would not fund this part of the project. It didn't have any potential to make a profit from planning permission for Finance Wales and WAG cannot fund statutory obligations. Even when they are as well supported by local politicians, local people, environmental orgainsations, wood suppliers, energy purchasers and other funders (these subject to gaining permission). They could not help us either with the plan to build our own funding stream from wood fuel production. Even though we could get the capital funding to buy the equipment we could not raise the delivery and installation cost. Finance Wales considered the amount of borrowing we had secured for the production machinery was too high compared to the amount we had put in. They would not offer us any equity to reduce the debt ratio as the business was unlikely to go public or have licencing rights and therefore would not meet the very high profit levels they expect form projects they invest in. FW also did not believe that wood could be used as a fuel or that people would want to buy it!  

We also hit some snags with the site. Which, although it was proving suitable during our technical, planning and community engagement process, could not obtain sufficient committment from the owners to a long term lease before planning permission was granted. We of course could not obtain planning permission for a site over which we had no security of tenure without risking it being sold out from under us to the highest bidder, with us having paid for the process!

The good news is that we still have sufficient support from people who believe in our cause. This means we have been able to purchase the machinery to go into production of pellets, briquettes and charcoal. Even though this is at a lower level of production than we would like to meet the current demand it does get us going. It will make us independant and eventually (hopefully in the short term), will allow us to follow up on our original aims and objectives.

For our new readers - we had planned a 6 MW CHP plant for Monmouth, which would have (and still could) provide power to 15000 homes. This would have also included other business feeding off the plant including a spa, shop, cafe, visitor centre and education programme.

Our philosophy adds considerable employee benefits and a fair trade policy towards customers and suppliers.

Unfortunately all of these things are seen as clutter or an unncessary drain on profits to the majority of the investment world. And until we have acheived the independance we seek, or the investment world come out the other end of the mess they are in from following their way of doing things we will need to put all of these on hold.

We still believe that over the coming few years there will be an adjustment to thinking on a local and sustainable scale, which will see the concept of 'enough' taking hold on the economy. The concept of endless growth fed by cheap fossil fuels and long supply chains must now be seen as folly to all but the most hardened city economist.  

September - October 2007

This has been a long time coming.

That's because we have been heavily engaged with potential funders, planners, stakeholders groups and suppliers. All of these discussions are ongoing and I hope to have something positive to report by the end of the year.

As you will know by now the government is making a big play of Britain's lead role in combatting climate change. Big noises about legislation etc. We remain hopeful that this will bring some real support for renewables at the community scale. Not just look at supporting more of the same large scale developments requiring imported raw materials and exported profits to foreign owned multi nationals. See the latest reports of the giant wood fuelled plant in Port Talbot which will import wood from the USA, Canada and other places. Not sure how much carbon ships emit but difficult to see these stations as more than profit generators. We remain to be convinced (as do many others) that this is the best use of public money.

We have been taking the opportunity to attend a number of conferences and seminars over the last couple of months. We remain hopeful that these wil not be just more of the talking shops we have been to over the last five years. There seem to be more people willing to discuss how to move forward. We made some useful contacts which hopefully will lead to something I can report here.

Unfortunately we are still hearing the same, seemingly endless discussions about supply and demand and which comes first. As you will know, dear reader, we are prepared to provied the demand! All we need is a bit more action from the likes of the Forestry Commission (still no sign of the delivery plan for the Wood Fuel Strategy for England or news of the second Wood Energy Business Scheme in Wales.

Watch this space.

July - August 2007

It has been a very busy couple of months. We have been making steady progress in orgainsing supply contracts.

We have also taken some big steps towards planning and licensing the plant in Monmouth. We will begin a major community engagement programme in the next couple of months where we will open our ideas to public discussion. In the meantime, if you have any questions, at all, please call, write or email using the links on our Contact Us page.

We have also had very good discussions with potential investors who will really move the whole project forward. More later!

June 2007

We have secured support for the project from David Davies MP (Monmouth, Cons.). He showed a great deal of awareness of the need to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels. He has looked in depth at the issues as a member of a select committee. We have also met with Mike German Regional AM (South East Wales, Lib Dem) and Nick Ramsay AM (Monmouthshire, Cons.). Again both recognise the vital role renewalbe energy can play in our environment and economy.

Our meetings with the WAG have confirmed that there is no specific assistance for Renewable Energy from the Assembly. We are hopeful though after being told that investigations will be made regarding the availability of commercial funding through their agencies.

We have been given an agreement in principle for the Assembly Investment Grant of £22,000 toward the Wood Pellet Production facility.

The Feasibility and Environmental Study to support planning and licence applications has got underway.

We have informed the elected representatives at Assembly, County and Town levels of our intentions and hope to hear from them soon. We believe we will recieve cross party support for the plans.

We have also begun consultations with Officers from Monmouthshire County Council in the Planning and Economic Regeneration Departments.  

One we have something more tangible we will be beginning our public consultation and community engagement process.

May 2007

Still having difficulties with financial support from both local and national government. Still the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change with their report on the urgency of need to do something positive to combat Global Warming may lead to action from our political leaders. We live in hope.

As a means of raising income before the main plant comes on line, we are investigating a Woodfuel Pellet production line. This will give us the cash flow needed to continue to develop the CHP plant.

This month we have attracted our first small shareholders. Still room for more if you believe in what we do. check out our 'Investing in us' page.

Also this month, in a major step forward, we have gained the services of Richard Price, who will act as our Director of Forestry. His role will be to source the timber we need for fuel. Richard has a long background in the forestry sectior and his experience and commitment to acting for renewable energy will prove invaluable to Treenergy.

April 2007

We are still hopeful that the site in Cinderford will become available and are waiting until the end of May for the final decision. we are starting to hope that we may be able to get both sites moving to come through over the next four years.

We have visited another site. This one in Monmouth. This would be ideal and is in a very good location for potential heat customers. Great news we have agreed a way forward with the landlord of the site in Monmouth and will be able to start stock piling fuel and getting started on the production of woodfuel pellets. More news on this later.

March 2007

You'd have to be living on the moon to have missed the politicians making statements about 'Green Issues'. The EU has also agreed targets for climate change. Maybe we will now see more support for projects like Treenergy.

The Third round of the Biomass Capital Grant closed on 9th March. Unfortunately the 10 week window for applications was simply not long enough for us to apply. The rules stated that we needed funding in place and planning applicaton completed. As this process lasts at least 6 months it was unlikely that we would have been able to benefit.

We have begun to make contact with potential fuel suppliers and have been encouraged by the response. This is as we had expected from the research. It has been disconcerting to note that the animal bedding industry is prepared to pay very high prices for what could be excellent fuel. Unfortunately after use in stables and sheds the contaminated product is then often landfilled. We shake our heads in despair!

We have submitted a funding proposal to Virgin Fuels. Richard Branson has made available substantial funding to support renewable energy projects. Watch this space to see if we will receive support from this source.

Cinderford2016 is well under way. By the end of this month submissions on the community consultation on the options will be closed and the board will consider which options to go with. We have high hopes of support. As soon as we hear that our proposal is supported we will begin community engagment of our own to explain the project. We should know by the end of May.

This is timely as comments have begun to appear in local papers from politicians and civil servants relating to the project. Mostly these have made statements that we hope to comment on once we know the project is going to be included.

We have received positive news of potential support for our funding and development. More on that in later bulletins.

We've heard back from Virgin Fuels. In spite of the major contribution we can make locally to tackling climate change, supplying green energy, improving skilled job prospects, increasing knowledge of environmental issues, etc. we recieved a rejection. We did not meet their strategic goals. We asked them to reconsider but were told that they receive hundreds of applications and can't take them all. That's encouraging we'll be watching to see the contribution they are making.

Take a look at their website www.virgin.com/subsites/virginfuels/Home.asp , see what you think (leave us a comment by clicking contacts above). It seems they will be concentrating on biofuels then maybe later getting into the other forms of Renewable Energy. At least their aircraft fleet will be using clean fuels one day.

We've heard from the Welsh Assembly Government. They sent us some grant forms which we submitted. Not as much as we need but it's a start.

The best thing this month has been the long awaited publication of the Government's Woodfuel Strategy for England. This is setting out the support and delivery strategy for a sustainable Woodfuel industry in England. Take a look and see what you think (let us know by clicking contacts above) www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/INFD-6PGGQR

It's been a busy month!

February 2007 

We visited a potential site in Chepstow. This is practically perfect. We are concerned with the lack of available start up support. This may mean further delays and the loss of the site to another company.

January 2007 

We read an article in the Wye Valley and Forest of Dean Review referring to our Spa idea in positive terms. Contact is made with the CRP to find out that our project had been disucssed with those of others. We are now waiting for a formal opportunity to put our proposal forward in more detail for consultation.

December 2006 

We meet with a representative of the WAG Economic Development team. Again we are encouraged by the response. A second meeting will be arranged to take the project forward.

The third round of the Bioenergy Capital Grant opened today. There is only a 10 week window to apply for up to 40% of eligible costs at a minimum of £25000 and maximum of £1000000. We will need planning permission and funding in place by 9th March. As we won't know if we have support for Cinderford or any chance of having planning in place we don't hold out much hope of applying. The total fund is only £15m including administration. We hoped for more money and flexibility considering the policy statements from the government.

October - November 2006 

We continue to make contact with the RDA and try to get updates on the progress of our project through the Cinderford Regeneration Partnership process. We are informed that the process is continuing and that there are many more discussions to be held.

We make the decision to approach the Venture Wales working on behalf of the Welsh Assembly Government and begin discussions on the potential for a first site in Wales. Again we are encouraged to continue.

September 2006 

Darley Associates present us with our Feasibility Study which confirms that the project is viable and can achieve our aims.

We formally register the company with Companies House. Solicitors and Accountants are engaged to assist Treenergy.

August 2006

We are given the good news that the RDA may financially support the environmental work and planning application.

We inform our environmental consultants of the latest development and ask them to hold off on their work. The RDA will appoint their own contractors.

July 2006

We had the opportunity to present our project to the RDA's consultants working on the Cinderford Regeneration Partnership proposals. We are informed of the process through which our proposal must go. Although this is expected to be a long process we decide to stick with it.

We engage Environmental Consultants to begin work on Environmental Impact Assessment and Planning submissions.

June 2006

We embark on our journey by identifying the site at Northern United Colliery in Cinderford as the site with greatest potential for the first Treenergy plant in the Forest of Dean.

We made contact with the owners at the South West of England Regional Development Agency. Encouraged by the response we went ahead and asked Darley Associates, an experienced consultancy to carry out a feasibility study.

Treenergy Ltd is a company registered in England and Wales. Company Number: 5927847.VAT Registration Number: 891 5769 69 

Registered Office: 10 Chapel Close, Wyesham, MONMOUTH, Monmouthshire, NP25 3NN