sustainable wood for RHI

Bloders

Member
Location
Ruabon
Im after some information relating to which logs are suitable for burning in a boiler and claim the RHI.

If a site is registered as self supply and consequently have a BSL number, can they purchase rounds from a sustainable source?
If so, what are the requirements?
Does ths site use their 'self supply' BSL number on the data entry?

Alternatively, I assume wood could be pruchased from a supplier who have their own BSL registration.
 

farmerm

Member
Location
Shropshire
I'm not qualified by my best guess would be if you are burning self supply timber then you need to keep records of what timber you are burning and where you self source it. If you purchase rounds which you log up and burn these would need to be from a BSL registered source and that it is the third party BSL number that would be recorded against the burning of this imported timber regardless of your processing of it.

Of course if all the rounds that arrive in your yard to be logged up could have come from your own woodland, who is to say they didn't? :unsure: Makes more sense burning sustainable logs supplied from a neighbours wood than burning imported pellets from Eastern Europe that are all wrapped in single use plastic.

I guess what you need to know is buried somewhere in the site...
https://biomass-suppliers-list.service.gov.uk/documents-and-guidance
 

renewablejohn

Member
Location
lancs
Im after some information relating to which logs are suitable for burning in a boiler and claim the RHI.

If a site is registered as self supply and consequently have a BSL number, can they purchase rounds from a sustainable source?
If so, what are the requirements?
Does ths site use their 'self supply' BSL number on the data entry?

Alternatively, I assume wood could be pruchased from a supplier who have their own BSL registration.

In a word No. You either self supply using your own wood and jump through the hoops as to which part of your wood each individual stick used or you buy in from a BSL supplier and record what you have bought against his number but your records must match there invoices. Some people have come unstuck by recording more supplied than the bsl supplier has invoiced.
 

Bloders

Member
Location
Ruabon
In a word No. You either self supply using your own wood and jump through the hoops as to which part of your wood each individual stick used or you buy in from a BSL supplier and record what you have bought against his number but your records must match there invoices. Some people have come unstuck by recording more supplied than the bsl supplier has invoiced.
thanks.
Id assumed something like that, but one potential supplier has said he applied to be BSL and was told he did not need to (i got the info second hand) and they sent him his application money back. He has all the paperwork to demonstrate his wood is sustainable etc so i am left a bit confused.
I guess i need to speak to him myself! No good buying wood from him if it is not appropriate
thank you
 

carpenter1

Member
Location
devon
I have considered putting a log boiler in, what paper work do I need, to use wood from our woodland?
We also sell a few loads of logs, would that cause any problems? We only sell to a couple of local people, all through the books.
I can get alot of sawmill offcuts from a family member too.
 

renewablejohn

Member
Location
lancs
thanks.
Id assumed something like that, but one potential supplier has said he applied to be BSL and was told he did not need to (i got the info second hand) and they sent him his application money back. He has all the paperwork to demonstrate his wood is sustainable etc so i am left a bit confused.
I guess i need to speak to him myself! No good buying wood from him if it is not appropriate
thank you
Dont need to be BSL registered if your not claiming RHI or supplying RHI customers. If you are supplying RHI customers then you need to be registered.
 

renewablejohn

Member
Location
lancs
I have considered putting a log boiler in, what paper work do I need, to use wood from our woodland?
We also sell a few loads of logs, would that cause any problems? We only sell to a couple of local people, all through the books.
I can get alot of sawmill offcuts from a family member too.
Non so long as your not claiming RHI. If you do claim RHI then life becomes more complicated.
 
I have considered putting a log boiler in, what paper work do I need, to use wood from our woodland?
We also sell a few loads of logs, would that cause any problems? We only sell to a couple of local people, all through the books.
I can get alot of sawmill offcuts from a family member too.
If you were claiming RHI (which I see your not) then the saw mill offcuts would not be deemed renewable, unless there was the complete FSC chain of custody evidence, I believe.
 

egbert

Member
Livestock Farmer
If you were claiming RHI (which I see your not) then the saw mill offcuts would not be deemed renewable, unless there was the complete FSC chain of custody evidence, I believe.

And I cannot tell you how much that hacks me off.
There are almost no ways you could run a sawmill in the UK without a clear pathway of licensed responsible infeed material.
I suppose you could be buying round timber from a range of landowners carefully chipping away at woodland within the permitted unlicensed felling, whilst grazing or flailing regrowth. but it'd be pretty far fetched.
(if it's 2 tonnes per calendar quarter, fag packet maths says I'd need something over 100 suppliers, all working in sequenced unison)
Or you might be milling dodgy tropical hardwoods, arriving in the round....are the many businesses operating like that?

Like Red Tractor, it's just another pointless make work scheme , costing the industry.

Best of all, one of the most flagrant 'dodgy felling' offers of round material I've ever had- which I dobbed in to the authorities- came from a 'mainstream' forester/manager who went on to become the local FSC inspector.
 

renewablejohn

Member
Location
lancs
And I cannot tell you how much that hacks me off.
There are almost no ways you could run a sawmill in the UK without a clear pathway of licensed responsible infeed material.
I suppose you could be buying round timber from a range of landowners carefully chipping away at woodland within the permitted unlicensed felling, whilst grazing or flailing regrowth. but it'd be pretty far fetched.
(if it's 2 tonnes per calendar quarter, fag packet maths says I'd need something over 100 suppliers, all working in sequenced unison)
Or you might be milling dodgy tropical hardwoods, arriving in the round....are the many businesses operating like that?

Like Red Tractor, it's just another pointless make work scheme , costing the industry.

Best of all, one of the most flagrant 'dodgy felling' offers of round material I've ever had- which I dobbed in to the authorities- came from a 'mainstream' forester/manager who went on to become the local FSC inspector.

Quite agree. Cost me loads of money going through all the red tape just to become an approved supplier but in the end I stuck two fingers upto it as it was just totally impractical to operate for the very few customers it would actually apply to.
 

egbert

Member
Livestock Farmer
Quite agree. Cost me loads of money going through all the red tape just to become an approved supplier but in the end I stuck two fingers upto it as it was just totally impractical to operate for the very few customers it would actually apply to.

Ha! the number of customers who walk into the mill and ask for FSC certified timber is very close to nil.

The last one (7-8 years ago) was ongoing enquiries from an organisation -no names no pack drill- who were funded by the neighbouring County council , and presumably on which sat various members to whom I was well known.
They were very anxious to give me the job, and i helped them no end working up the difference between the spec the architect had given them, and what could be achieved with local oak, in the real world.
I spent a lot of time, involved my machine shop for help with profiles, etc etc.
But without FSC CoC, the architect was adamant that I shouldn't have the job.

In the end, the £10k job was given to the nearby softwood mill, - with whom I have no issue- using logs from 150 miles away which were FSC, and all the specs I had helped to work up.
I was not a very happy bunny, I can tell you!
 

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