Our last meeting covered:

FORTHCOMING EVENTS:
For information about other forest industries-related events, see Forthcoming Events.

A small group of 5 HIFIC attendees made a trip south to visit the EON plant at Lockerbie,  we then attended the South Scotland Forest Industry Cluster meeting that evening.

We spent a very informative afternoon at Eon and enjoyed a tour of the plant with Rob Lowe and Ian Collison.

Some key facts for the plant:

• Uses around 50 tonnes of biomass material every hour, this is a mix of virgin timber and recycled materials (inc waste from two adjacent sawmills and stumping chips). Target is to achieve 20% of material from re-cycled sources (currently around 5%).
• Moisture content parameters are 46% to 65% - currently finding moisture content a bit on the low side.
• Have been working with local farmers on willow trials to try and produce a fast growing crop located near to the plant
• Eon provide power to AW Jenkinsons to power the chipping plant (about 1.5mw when going at full capacity)
• Full time staff 0f 30 employed by EON on site – 6 shifts of 3 who run 12 hour shifts continuously.
• Other staff are engineering, management and administration
• Plant produces around 46mwh
• Currently achieving 32% efficiency – hoping to utilise some of the waste heat to provide heat to adjacent James Jones kilns in their sawmill.

EOn have plans afoot for further plants – one of a similar size to be built in Sheffield  and this will run entirely on recycled material.

South Scotland Cluster Meeting

The topic for this meeting was the report commissioned by Scottish Enterprise and Forestry Commission Scotland to look at the potential labour and skills shortages facing the industry by 2017.

The work built on the initial research undertaken by the Barfill Report and focussed on the key areas of:

• Planting and preparation
• Ongoing maintenance
• Harvesting

There are a number of reasons why there is potentially a large shortfall in future labour and skills:

1. Scottish Govt targets of annual planting of 10,000 hectares pa (last year this wasn’t achieved)
2. Current economic situation has resulted in a number of contractors going out of business
3. Migrant labour returning to their own countries (or Russia)
4. Ever increasing legislation eg GLA and the current issue around GLA providing evidence to HMRC on employee status.
5. Ever increasing age of the current workforce – average is currently mid forties.
6. Forestry and rural skills in general not being promoted by Careers staff

The initial findings suggest that overall for every 3 people currently employed in each of these areas there is a need to recruit a further 1, also on average 25% of the current workforce will be lost through business closure and/or natural wasteage.

The full report is due for publication in December 2009.

Stumping Trials

The morning of the 12^th was taken up with a visit to the Stumping Trials being run jointly with Scottish Woodlands Ltd and UPM Tillhill.

Jack Barnes from Scottish Woodlands spent several hours with us the following morning and initially we visited the processing site where the stumps are brought to be turned into chips. The site is basically comprises a drop off area, a drum cleaner to remove the last of the soil and a large chipper which processes the stumps. The chippings are then deposited in a large storage shed to await delivery to AW Jenkinsons.

The contractor who is undertaking the processing owns all of the site/equipment and invested a total of £1.3m in the project, an element of this being supported by the SBHS grant.

The project has been a steep learning curve and issues identified include:

• Some sites have produced more soil residue (peaty soils are higher)
• Modifications and increased initial cleaning on site has reduced this
• Moisture content can be very low in the summer months (Eon prefer a higher moisture content for mixing with virgin/recycled timber to increase overall %)
• Better soil conditions produce stumps with a higher ash content when burnt

The project stalled for a short period due to the prolonged shut down at Eon recently and this has had a knock on effect ie no new sites being cleared at present. It is hoped that activity will increase and they can work towards the target production figure of 120k tonnes per annum.

27th August 2009

Topics:
Carbon Offsetting  An overview of what this means in practical terms for the Forestry sector and what opportunities there may be for the sector in the future.

Renewable Heat Advice Service – Highland Birchwoods  have successfully secured funding for this 3 year initiative which aims to provide a comprehensive and impartial advice service for all aspects of woodfuel supply and utilisation. Stephen Cribb has recently been appointed as Project Officer and gave an overview of the project, how it is designed, and the potential benefits to the forestry industry.

Commonwealth Games 2012 Contracting/Supply Opportunities – Martin Grigg, Scottish Enterprise  highlighting the potential opportunities for the sector, ranging from general timber supply, specific feature pieces to landscaping and groundworks connected with the refurbishment of various venues associated with the games.

Visit to Highland Wood Energy Ltd - Following on from the presentations  a tour of the brand new, state of the art premises which includes a demonstration/training centre with the latest examples in boiler technology.

PRESENTATIONS:
Forest Carbon - James Hepburn Scot
2012 Olympics, grasping the business opportunity - Martin Grigg
Highland Birchwood projects - Stephen Cribb