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High Standards Ensure Fuel Efficiency

Now in its second year of operation the company is supplying woodchip for 5 heat energy boilers for PFI and local authority schools in the region. It has sent 3 commissioning loads to the new Rhondda hospital which at 1MW (Heat) until very recently had the largest boiler of its kind in Wales. It has a 100 M3 Fuel store and operates 24/7, Providing hot water and central heating in the winter as well as air conditioning in the summer. An exacting production plan is used by Pathfinder to ensure the consistent supply of high quality, air-dried, uncontaminated chip to the end user from our two processing depots near Usk. At the same time our supply chain is evolving and expanding to minimise the negative impact of transport costs. We now have 2 main processing and storage depots near USK, 7 tree stations (timber storage and drying locations) established in the county with plans to set-up a further 2 more over the next 12 months.

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Mutual Cooperation

The margins on the production and delivery of quality woodchip for heat only boilers are crucial and minimal, mainly due to the cost of transport. Anything that can mutually be done to reduce transport costs will improve the carbon footprint of the exercise and, for example, gate fees paid for the removal of arisings for recycling, or the provision of "tree stations" close to the point of use, significantly improve the economics.

For specific clearance, thinning or pruning projects we are now in a position to provide our customers with quotes from the skilled and fully qualified labour force of tree surgeons and foresters working with our organisation. We are able to provide teams of between 2 and 8 tree surgeons and up to 10 foresters and tree surgeons combined with the necessary equipment for larger clearance schemes.

Our Suppliers

Our suppliers are every bit as important to us as our customers and may also be one and the same. It is only by acquiring low or nil cost timber through tree surgeons, woodland management consultants, local authorities, agencies (such as Highways and Network Rail) and other operatives that the chip can be produced at a commercial price. Supplies will come from essential thinning (coppicing and selective felling to improve spacings through the BWW scheme), utilities, local authorities' or other agencies' arisings and from forestry and other waste wood. From this we will build the necessary sustainable reserves of drying timber that will be required to meet future demand for woodchip, at the right price.

In order to keep transport and production costs to a minimum we are seeking to rollout more tree stations in conjunction with our suppliers. A tree station or wood fuel store is an open area for storing, drying and chipping timber close to road or track access. Depending on the constraints and location of the site a fully stocked tree station would hold up to 1000 cubic metres of material (but can be any size from 100 m3 up). Ideal sites are woodland stacking areas and farm or disused industrial hard standing areas. Timber will be deposited at the tree station by local contractors, tree surgeons, sawmills and foresters when they have suitable material available in the area and by woodland owners as a bi-product of woodland management.

(Note unit prices exclude VAT at 5%)

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