As we look ahead, we’re hoping that increasing demand for wood fuel will give landowners an additional incentive to undertake coppicing and fencing work. In some cases this means coppicing large mature alder and other bank-side trees. In other cases, it means the re-coppicing of trees last coppiced only 10 or 15 years ago.

 

 

 

Provided it’s properly managed, coppice timber is a renewable resource, with the new growth eventually absorbing as much C02 as that released when coppiced timber is burnt.

 
Demand for wood fuel is already increasing significantly. There is also a widespread expectation that wood fuel demand, and consequently the price, will increase further…. in line with anticipated price rises for oil, gas and electricity, and concerns about electricity supply capacity from 2015.

The demand is likely to be for all forms of wood fuel, including both roundwood and wood chip, whether for use in domestic wood burning stoves and larger heating installations or, increasingly, for biomass electricity generation plants.

 
Local demand

The fewer miles wood fuel has to be transported the better… for both the economics and the carbon footprint. So it may prove useful that we have at least two significant potential purchasers of woodfuel in our immediate area, apart from other possible local commercial or private buyers of whom we are as yet unaware.
Already, Certainly Wood at Madley (01981 251796) is a significant national supplier of kiln-dried logs. We understand that they are interested in alder, ash and oak cordwood in 2 or 3 metre lengths and diameters from 3 to 4 inches up to 20 inches. The price is around £30 a ton for roadside collection of minimum loads of 28 tons. (If our maths is right, that means a stack of alder about 8 feet high by 8 feet deep by 35 feet long.)
In about 2 years time, Pontrilas Timber  (01981 240444) will commission a large biomass generator for which they expect to buy in both wood chip and roundwood up to 24 inches in diameter.

 
Needless to say, harvesting and transport of river bank coppice is rarely an easy operation. There are some locations at which access and harvesting is very difficult or impossible and where costs would be far too high.
Elsewhere, costs may well have to be covered in part by habitat improvement or similar grants, or coppicing will only become viable if and when wood fuel prices have risen further.

We have started to look into some of the obvious questions about harvesting and transport methods and will aim to put some up to date information on the MFA website as it becomes available.

 

Some issues will take a few months at least to clarify. For example, we understand that the precise specifications of material for the Pontrilas plant (such as size, moisture content, collection / delivery arrangements, and, crucially, price) have yet to be settled. As roundwood can be easier and cheaper to transport and to dry than woodchip, it may be that coppice would be best chipped at Pontrilas rather than on site.

We are also looking into the scope for machine coppicing, probably in conjunction with chain-saw operations.

 

Some landowners may already have satisfactory outlets for coppice material. Others may want to use the wood fuel themselves.

But if you are interested in coppicing now and have questions about how best to proceed in your particular location, we’ll be happy to offer such information as we can. For example, it may be possible to reduce costs by collaborating with others in your area, either on harvesting or consolidation of loads for transport.

 

If you would like more information about the Wood Fuel Initiative, please use the Contact form here.

If you are able to offer additional information about harvesting, transport or other potential local purchasers of wood fuel, please get in touch.