Future looks good for mobile wood chipper - case study

Ernslaw Bio-Energy's new mobile wood chipper means the Central Otago company is well-placed to take advantage of an expected increase in the use of wood-chip boilers.

The company bought the $250,000 German-made Heizohack HM10-500 KT chipper and the John Deere 7530 tractor which powers it in 2008 with the help of a business grant from the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority.

The mobile chipper is one of the first of its kind in New Zealand. It produces about 13 tonnes of wood chips an hour-enough to heat an average-sized school with a wood-chip boiler for 10 days.

Ernslaw Bio-energy bought the chipper because it was keen to find a way of adding value to low-grade logs, rather than simply selling them for firewood.

The company's project manager Murray Cowan says that while commercial wood-chip boilers are relatively uncommon in New Zealand at the moment, he is confident that will soon change.

"Wood-chip boilers are quite common in Europe - mostly to heat water for central heating. We see lots of opportunities for similar systems here, especially in schools and places such as hospitals, motels and glasshouses."