Biomass Energy Production
Create a optimised pre-dispatched biomass into a consistent SYNGAS and low-emission electrical generation
One of the UK’s largest waste timber importers — operating a regional fulfilment hub, and vehicle maintenance facility — was spending over £1.5 million annually on gas and heating oil to heat its plant, with no coherent strategy to meet its board-level commitment to net zero by 2035.
The Challenge
High-efficiency treatment for complex and difficult waste streams.
The existing facilities presented a complex and varied challenge. The existing centre — ranging from 80,000 to 400,000 square feet — required continuous space heating throughout the year to maintain safe working temperatures for operational staff and to protect temperature-sensitive areas. Vehicle maintenance workshops operated around the clock, with high-bay heating demands that conventional heat pump technology could not efficiently serve.
The site is located in a industrial zone with no mains gas supply, relying entirely on delivered heating oil at volatile spot prices. Energy costs had increased by 62% over the preceding three years, and the existing infrastructure — much of it over twenty years old — was reaching the point of mandatory replacement. The board required a solution that could be designed and deployed in a new build facility, reduce energy expenditure materially, and provide independently verified carbon savings sufficient to underpin their published net zero commitments to investors and major retail clients.
The Solution
We developed and delivered a rollout programme across the site in the first phase, with the remaining scheduled phase for completion within a subsequent 18-month window. We installed automated wood chip biomass boiler systems sized to the specific heat demand profile of facility high-efficiency warm air heating systems replace legacy radiant tube and LTHW emitters within the warehousing and workshop areas, dramatically improving heat distribution in high-bay environments. A centralised energy management platform aggregates live performance data from all areas into a single dashboard, enabling the group’s facilities management team to monitor fuel consumption, heat output, and carbon displacement in real time.
Biomass feed stock is supplied under a ten-year managed contract with a consortium of certified UK forestry and sawmill operators, with fixed price escalators providing multi-year cost certainty. Surplus heat from the biomass plant is used to pre-condition incoming fleet vehicles overnight, reducing engine idle time and improving cold-start emissions performance across the HGV fleet.
Annual energy cost saving across the estate
Reduction in Scope 1 emissions from heat
CO₂e displaced annually
Value Delivered
The programme has delivered the most significant single-operator biomass rollout in the UK logistics sector to date. Savings of £1.2 million annually against the prior energy baseline. The fixed-price feed stock supply contract provides cost certainty that gas and oil procurement could never offer, enabling more accurate long-term financial modelling across the group’s operational budget. Verified carbon reductions of 79% from heat generation have been formally recognised in the group’s annual sustainability disclosure, materially strengthening its ESG position with the major retailers and e-commerce operators that account for the majority of its contracted revenue. Two of those clients have since cited the biomass programme specifically as a factor in renewing long-term contracts, underscoring the direct commercial value of the group’s decarbonisation investment.
Ready to transform your waste into a resource?
We’d love to hear from you — whether you’re interested in the project, partnership, or simply have a question. Speak to a biomass specialist today!
Operating a large or multi-site logistics estate? Our industrial energy team can design a biomass heating strategy scaled to your network, with phased delivery to minimise operational disruption.