Biomass Suppliers List and Woodsure

[NFI]

I've just had my membership renewal fee.
Think I'll pay it quick.

 

[Rod Dumbreck]

I've just had my membership renewal fee.
Think I'll pay it quick.

For Woodsure? were you a member already?

Sometime in the near future apparently we are to be told about a scheme for self suppliers.

Getting Certified – Self Suppliers​

Woodsure will be publishing it’s bespoke route for self suppliers to produce a quality manual and application process early in 2022. Self- suppliers will be provided with an affordable route to demonstrate compliance with the legislative requirement. Domestic self-suppliers may be subject to random fuel sample analysis, non-domestic self-suppliers will require an annual fuel sample test.

 

[rollestonpark]

I only produce about 10 t of chip a year for my own use, so a £500 fee would be outrageous. Are any small producers out there interested in setting up a small scale certification scheme? I think woodsure needs some competition. If enough of us got together we could go it alone. Wouldnt even mind going down a legal challenge route.

If your only doing 10 ton per year of wood that you've have collected from around the farm, then in theory you'd need to be woodsure approved to burn that in the RHI boiler.
It will end up cheaper to burn that on the field and then buy in the wood from a woodsure approved agent for the boiler.
Doesn't sound very environmentally friendly to me.....

 

[NFI]

Ok. So this is what came through yesterday.

		Biomass Suppliers Portal​
	Dear BSL Supplier, We are writing to inform you that your BSL membership fee is now due. To see how much you owe and to pay your fee, login to your BSL account at https://www.biomass-suppliers-list.service.gov.uk/. Please note that only the Master Admin User or Main Contact can pay your fee. If you would like to nominate another user to have the ability to pay, the Master Admin User can do this by logging into the supplier account on the BSL portal, navigating to the 'Users' page and selecting that user as the Main Contact. How is your fee calculated?​ Your membership fee is calculated by the BSL portal using the information you provided in your application about your company size, or if you are an individual. As a Self-supplier, you will pay for the year upfront. Individuals – £25 + VAT per year Small / micro companies - £120 + VAT per year Medium / large companies - £295 + VAT per year Please note the administrator and bank account has changed from July 2021, any problems using Paypal please try clearing your cache on your device. Any payment issues please contact the BSL admin from 4 January 2022. Ensure you meet incoming legislation In January 2021, revisions were made to the Renewable Heat Incentive Scheme Regulationsto introduce fuel quality legislation for BSL authorised fuel suppliers. As a self-supplier, you will need to ensure that your fuel meets recognised quality standards by 1 April 2022. This means that all woodfuel must be certified by Woodsure or a recognised equivalent scheme, wood pellets must meet ENplus A1 standards or equivalent, and all other woodfuel must meet quality standards such as ISO 9001. Failure to provide reports and prove that fuel meets the required quality standards after 1 April 2022 could result in the removal of fuels from the BSL and render your BSL number(s) invalid for claiming RHI payments. A Self-Supplier is a supplier who uses their own wood to fuel their own biomass boiler. Self-Suppliers are not able to sell their fuel to anyone else. They use their Biomass Suppliers List (BSL) authorisation to claim their Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) payments. We will send you further details on fuel quality compliance in early 2022. Here to help If you need further assistance contact us on [email protected] , or (+44) 01684 215253. The helpdesk telephone line is open Monday to Thursday, from 9am – 5pm and 9am – 4.30pm on Fridays, excluding public holidays. Kind regards, BSL Administrator DO NOT REPLY DIRECTLY TO THIS AUTOMATED EMAIL – PLEASE EMAIL [email protected] FOR QUERIES
	© Biomass Suppliers Portal

 

[rollestonpark]

Seems to be very little time to get the approval done and what we need to do seems vague to me.
'We will send you further details on fuel quality compliance in early 2022.'
sounds like they are still deciding on the requirements....
Not overly impressed with the vagueness and the looming deadline.

 

[NFI]

Sounds like a load of BS to me.
Flexing muscles etc.
The government probably want to cut rhi payments and looking at ways to do so but sending in the heavy mob to turn the thumb screws seems a bit harsh.

 

[renewablejohn]

Sounds like a load of BS to me.
Flexing muscles etc.
The government probably want to cut rhi payments and looking at ways to do so but sending in the heavy mob to turn the thumb screws seems a bit harsh.

Would like to find out how legal this actually is. I presume your original RHI contract made no reference to the quality of wood burnt. Not the first time the government changes the rules after the contract has been signed. Nobody else would be allowed to get away with it.

 

[betternextyear]

Are you in the RHI scheme for your boiler if not then just tell BSL you no longer want to be part of their Bull sh!t List. If you do get RHI is it more than the fees you will incur. If so look at your agreement and see if there is anyway to get out of the agreement. The only point about BSL was to supply RHI boilers. I had so few customers with RHI that I told BSL right at the start where they could stick their scheme. I have even got some of the RHI customers back as there 7 year schemes have now ended.

I will keep on claiming RHI until they make it too difficult then I will sell my wood to a local chipper and buy it back certified. ( I think there is plenty of scope for creativity in the paper chain)

 

[renewablejohn]

I will keep on claiming RHI until they make it too difficult then I will sell my wood to a local chipper and buy it back certified. ( I think there is plenty of scope for creativity in the paper chain)

You may find a problem with this. As a supplier of woodchip the rules would not allow us to split our woodchip between certified sustainable sources and other sources. Only the certified sustainable sources could be used to supply RHI customers and we could not keep stockpiles of both as the paper chase and cost was rediculous. Instead we opted out of BSL and just supplied the vast majority of customers who were non RHI or had come to the end of their RHI contracts.

 

[betternextyear]

You may find a problem with this. As a supplier of woodchip the rules would not allow us to split our woodchip between certified sustainable sources and other sources. Only the certified sustainable sources could be used to supply RHI customers and we could not keep stockpiles of both as the paper chase and cost was rediculous. Instead we opted out of BSL and just supplied the vast majority of customers who were non RHI or had come to the end of their RHI contracts.

I have emailed Woodsure and they are cooking up a solution for small self supply consumers. I await with interest what they will create. I am equally sure I can be as creative as them if they are too expensive. There is so much money to be made from chip that corners are cut particulary when it comes to form filling.

 

[Rod Dumbreck]

I have emailed Woodsure and they are cooking up a solution for small self supply consumers. I await with interest what they will create. I am equally sure I can be as creative as them if they are too expensive. There is so much money to be made from chip that corners are cut particulary when it comes to form filling.

I hope they get a move on with this. I have been reading through the RHI info and sometimes it seems that we can self report on our GHG and Legality, and the next minute, not quite so clear.

 

[renewablejohn]

Would like to find out how legal this actually is. I presume your original RHI contract made no reference to the quality of wood burnt. Not the first time the government changes the rules after the contract has been signed. Nobody else would be allowed to get away with it.

Just to put the Bull sh!t List into perspective. Its all about moisture content and supplying the customer with woodfuel with a moisture content less than 20%. Wonder what the BSL has to say about the annual 475,000 tonnes of woodchip supplied to Lockerbie power station (Stevens Croft) at average 53% MC.

 

[Poncherello1976]

Have just had a letter from BSL about getting 'approved' through Woodsure.
I thought I would a look and it is £156 to join the scheme as a self supplier! Luckily for me not the £500 being banded about, it would have killed it for me if it was!
I think I will join up this year and see how it goes, if it is a really pain I will just get my woodchip from a supplier, though defeats part of the object of being able to use ones own wood! Though I am not quite sure what happens when I have joined up! Not sure if its a case of sending a sample in to be tested , or someone from the Gestapo comes round to pay you a visit! I will ring them on Monday to find out a bit more.
Another nail in the coffin for people who just get on and do things properly and more jobs for the clipboard society we live in.

 

[renewablejohn]

Have just had a letter from BSL about getting 'approved' through Woodsure.
I thought I would a look and it is £156 to join the scheme as a self supplier! Luckily for me not the £500 being banded about, it would have killed it for me if it was!
I think I will join up this year and see how it goes, if it is a really pain I will just get my woodchip from a supplier, though defeats part of the object of being able to use ones own wood! Though I am not quite sure what happens when I have joined up! Not sure if its a case of sending a sample in to be tested , or someone from the Gestapo comes round to pay you a visit! I will ring them on Monday to find out a bit more.
Another nail in the coffin for people who just get on and do things properly and more jobs for the clipboard society we live in.

Have you read the small print. Does that fee of 156 include the fee for getting your wood tested and approved to meet the quality standards or is it just a membership fee to join the woodsure gestapo club

 

[Poncherello1976]

Have you read the small print. Does that fee of 156 include the fee for getting your wood tested and approved to meet the quality standards or is it just a membership fee to join the woodsure gestapo club

Good point!!
Not yet. I will speak to them next week and do some more digging.
I was just assuming!!

 

[Kingcj]

Next year they will be demanding that we all join nrowco (national register of wood chipper operators) to remain wood sure approved so you can demonstrate training to safely operate a wood chipper.

 

[e3120]

Next year they will be demanding that we all join nrowco (national register of wood chipper operators) to remain wood sure approved so you can demonstrate training to safely operate a wood chipper.

Not to worry, their website will advise of courses 5 years ago that you can go on to refresh yourself.

 

[Gasquolet]

I'm just going through the process to register with Woodsure. I have a typical domestic installation; 40kW boiler registered for domestic RHI. I am also registered as a self supplier for fuel with BSL to satisfy the RHI. All my wood is sourced from the farm and processed on site. No purchased timber, no firewood sales etc.

Having gone through the initial scepticism including dismissing it as a scam, I am resigned to registering now, at least until the RHI obligations are met.

The online application for a self supplier was easy until it asked for a fuel manual upload. All the supplied templates were irrelevant to self supply (seeking assurance about raw material supply, product categories, complaints procedures etc. The small print reveals that they are still developing the self supplier manual, which will be emailed out some time after application...

The annual for registration as a domestic self supplier is £54.00 inc. vat

 

[renewablejohn]

I'm just going through the process to register with Woodsure. I have a typical domestic installation; 40kW boiler registered for domestic RHI. I am also registered as a self supplier for fuel with BSL to satisfy the RHI. All my wood is sourced from the farm and processed on site. No purchased timber, no firewood sales etc.

Having gone through the initial scepticism including dismissing it as a scam, I am resigned to registering now, at least until the RHI obligations are met.

The online application for a self supplier was easy until it asked for a fuel manual upload. All the supplied templates were irrelevant to self supply (seeking assurance about raw material supply, product categories, complaints procedures etc. The small print reveals that they are still developing the self supplier manual, which will be emailed out some time after application...

The annual for registration as a domestic self supplier is £54.00 inc. vat

Think your jumping the gun. There should be no need to register with woodsure as it has nothing to do with RHI. The con is woodsure are down as the administrator of the BSL scheme but you dont have to be part of woodsure to be in that scheme. What you will require is an independent test of your woodfuel which various labs can do but woodsure are promoting their own lab. Its not even certain yet whether self supply will need an independent test or whether on small quantities it can be self certified maybe using spot checks.

 

[betternextyear]

I would be interested to know how many self suppliers of fuel there are claiming RHI. Would there be 10s of us or hundreds cant even guess?
If Woodsure get difficult or expensive with small scale producers I would be willing to become part of a seperate certification scheme. If enough of us with similar quantities of fuel get together maybe we could have a simple self certification scheme.
I asked similar questions on the Arbtalk forum but didnt get much interest.