Rural Energy to Re-ignite public sector discussion

Bringing the benefits of biomass heating into the spotlight, Rural Energy in partnership with South East Wood Fuels is inviting guests to a day of seminars and roundtable discussions at The Keep, East Sussex’s state of the art new records centre in Brighton, on Tuesday 18 November 2014.

The free event is the ideal opportunity for architects, low carbon construction professionals, facilities managers and energy consultants to learn more about biomass heating, as well as viewing a showcase biomass installation in-situ.  

The Keep is a major new centre for archives that opens up access to all the collections of the East Sussex Record Office (ESRO), the Royal Pavilion & Museums Local History Collections and the University of Sussex Special Collections.

The BREEAM Excellent rated building includes a number of renewable technologies, including a biomass heating system and 300kW Herz Biomatic boiler, designed and installed by leading biomass expert Rural Energy.  The morning session will include a tour of the innovative facility, followed by a wood fuel and renewable heating seminar led by Rural Energy and South East Wood Fuels, lunch and networking.

The afternoon will be dedicated to Re-ignite, an interactive seminar focusing specifically on wood heating in the public sector.  Chaired by Julian Morgan-Jones, managing director of South East Wood Fuels Ltd and chairman of the Wood Heat Association, the discussion will feature a number of influential industry speakers and will cover key issues such as overcoming barriers to biomass adoption, local public sector success stories, funding options under the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) and a summary of the latest industry developments.

Matt Scully, Business Development Manager at Rural Energy, who will be speaking at Re-ignite, commented: “There is huge scope for biomass heating to offer significant financial rewards for local authorities and other public sector organisations – particularly following changes to the RHI legislation that allow for public sector funding.  However there is naturally still some hesitance and many questions about taking such a big step, which is what we will be looking to address during the day.

“The seminar programme will tackle the big issues such as funding and performance, with some great examples of other organisations’ experiences as a reference point.  The beauty of this event is that visitors will also be able to view a major new biomass installation within a public building first hand, which will give a really tangible insight into the system’s benefits.”