Published on 16 - June - 2009

Product Launch

Carbon-neutral heating for Sudbury Hall

As part of its drive to reduce carbon emissions across its estate, the National Trust has replaced two oil-fired boilers at Sudbury Hall in Derbyshire with 2 x 150kW STU wood pellet biomass boilers manufactured by Hoval.

Specification of Hoval biomass boilers followed a feasibility study by Lorien Engineering Solutions, Project Manager and Engineering Consultant throughout the project, as well as visits to local Hoval installations.

"The National Trust is committed to installing renewable energy technologies in its properties wherever appropriate," explained Charles Robinson, the National Trust's senior building surveyor. "The fact that we were able to source both the boilers and wood pellets locally also helped to reduce the project's carbon footprint," he continued.

The first stage of the project was to remove the existing oil boilers and oil tank from the designated cellar space. Working closely with installer Instatherm, which also supplied the pellet feed system and underfeed stokers, Hoval took a turnkey role in managing these works, through to the commissioning of the new boilers.

The pellet hopper, located adjacent to the boilers, is manufactured from a special fabric, mounted on a steel frame - so it could be easily assembled in the cellar. The fabric is designed to allow air to pass through while retaining dust, so the hopper does not need to be vented during filling. The pellets are sourced from local biomass fuel specialist Strawsons Energy.