Thames Valley Energy

News - Rural Renewable Energy Demo presentations

May 07: Presentations from the rural stakeholders' event about renewables for rural communities on 31st January 2007 are now available. This event, held at Friars Court Farm in Oxfordshire, was the final workshop of the Renewable Energy Demonstration programme run by TV Energy for Natural England and SEEDA. You can view PDFs of most of the presentations by clicking on the links below.

'What does Climate Change mean for Rural Communities?' – Mark Goldthorpe, South East Climate Change Partnership
'Small Scale Electricity Generation' – Ian Bacon, TV Energy
'Biomass' – Matthew Woodcock, Forestry Commission
'Ground Source Heat Pumps' – James Dickinson, Buro Happold
'Wind: how to make it a Community Success' – Adam Twine, Westmill Farm
'Government Policy and Strategies for encouraging uptake' – Jeremy Bolas, SEEDA and Nick Cooper, Natural England

Farms host Renewable Energy Demonstration events


Steve's mobile solar demo was a hit	Pip combined wave and solar power in an accomplished artwork

The origin of biomass is neatly shown in Russell's collage	Emily's wind turbines ornament a lush landscape and skyline

Feb 07: Between October and January, TV Energy organised four events in the Thames Valley on behalf of Natural England under the RED (Renewable Energy Demonstration) Farms Programme. Two of the events were farmers' workshops, one of which was featured on the BBC's Countryfile programme on 9th December, 2006. The others comprised a workshop for rural renewables stakeholders, and a public open day held on an Oxfordshire farm when over 400 members of the public were welcomed through the gates.

The demonstration days were intended to inform and educate local people about the wide variety of renewable energy technologies and to put people in touch with suppliers and sources of advice and grants. The events were all held on local farms which have renewable energy installations, such as solar photovoltaic panels, ground source heat pumps and energy crop production and included farm tours hosted by the farmers and presentations about the different technologies.

TVE were very grateful to the farmers who hosted the events, the local Young Farmers who helped out at the open day, as well as to all the Oxfordshire schoolchildren who had earlier entered the renewables-themed painting competition. All the pictures were wonderful and some of the creators of the winning entries were present at the open day to receive their prizes. Emily Hobson (age 5), Russell Wilkes (9) and Pip Harrison (9) had all had their paintings and collages chosen - for artistic merit and thematic relevance - by David Cameron, MP.

Bioenergy Heat Workshops warm up interest in January

In January this year, TVE held a series of free wood fuel workshops entitled “The Power to Change”. There were four workshops, one in each of the sub-regions of the South East and they were funded by Defra's Rural Development Service in order to raise awareness of wood fuel production and use.

Many of our speakers have kindly agreed for us make their presentation available to download from our website. Their presentations can be downloaded as PDFs below:

Gill Alker, TV Energy – 'A South East Regional Study into Wood and Energy Crops as Sources of Bioenergy' (PDF 395KB)
Charlotte Bruton , TV Energy – 'Bioenergy Grant Schemes' (PDF 98KB)
Mark Candlish and Andrew Ellis, Slough Heat & Power – ' Slough Heat & Power' (PDF 962KB)
Paul Clark, Rural Energy Ltd – “Modern Wood Fuel Heating' (PDF 739KB)
Sam Langridge, Bioenergy Technology Ltd. – 'Bioenergy Technology' (PDF 1580KB)
Chris Miles, Econergy Ltd – 'Biomass Heating an Introduction' (PDF 736KB)
Bruce Norgrove, South East Wood Fuels – 'Development of a wood fuel supply infrastructure in the South East' (PDF 385KB)
Mark Paulson, Coppice Resources Ltd – 'Growing Energy Crops – An Opportunity' (PDF 658KB)
David Proudley, National Farmers' Union – 'NFU non-food crops policy' (PDF 1007KB)
Nick Sandford, Godinton Estate – 'Wood chip the beautiful fuel' (PDF 1984KB)
Richard Slatum, Wood Fuel Warwick – 'Firewood production' (PDF 1881KB)
Andrew Tolfts, Bioregional – 'Wood chip at Croydon – experience so far' (PDF 361KB)
John Turton, Turton Engineering – 'Land-based renewables' (PDF 595KB)
Matthew Woodcock, Forestry Commission - 'The potential for wood fuel in South East England”

TV Energy's South East Regional Study report for RDS available to download here

Energy Coppice Workshops Attract Farmers

Between October and December 2004, five workshops were held to advise potential growers about this new crop and its use for renewable energy production. The workshops were held in East Berkshire (Wokingham), Buckinghamshire (Aston Clinton), West Berkshire (Yattendon), Oxfordshire (Sutton Courtenay) and North Hampshire/Surrey (Wrecclesham). They were sponsored and chaired in most cases by the local council and the following sessions were included in all workshops.

An introduction to TV Bioenergy Coppice (TV Bioenergy Coppice)
What is SRC (Coppice Resources Ltd RMC) - Explaining how to grow SRC
Energy from Biomass in the Thames Valley (TV Bioenergy) - An introduction to the markets for woodchip in the region

Most workshops also featured one or more guest speakers including:

Workshop in Yattendon, West Berkshire

Mr John Willmer OBE (Friars Court), who presented 'A growers perspective' at The Oxfordshire workshop
Mr Ben Gibbons (Leckford Estate, Waitrose) who presented 'A growers perspective' at the West Berkshire workshop
Dr Emma Wilson (RWE npower-renewables) who presented 'Co-firing - kick-starting energy crops' at the Oxfordshire workshop
Mr Matthew Woodcock (Forestry Commission) who presented 'Regional Perspective on Wood Fuel' at the North Hampshire workshop and
Mr Ian Tubby (Forestry Commission) who gave a tour of the Forestry Commission SRC trials.

During the first three workshops, farmers were consulted on the proposed agreement for SRC growers. Between the first round of workshops in October and the second round in December the agreement for growers was further developed and the final arrangements were presented at the Oxfordshire and North Hampshire/Surrey Workshops.

For more information, visit www.tvbioenergy-coppice.co.uk or call TV Bioenergy Coppice on 01635 817420.

Branching Out into Coppice, Thames Valley style

The TV Bioenergy launch with (l to r) Paul Dorling &
Sue Finlay (DEFRA), Clive Williamson (RMC Aggregates), John Willmer (Coppice Grower), Charlotte Bruton (TVE), Jeremy Bolas (SEEDA),
Mark Paulson (Coppice Resources Ltd),
Keith Richards (TVE)

The UK's third coppice producer group was launched at the SE regional conference earlier this month. The new group will be based in the Thames Valley and trade under the name 'TV Bioenergy (Coppice) Ltd'.

Managing Director of the new Group, Dr Keith Richards, said “We welcome the help that DEFRA has given us to get this new initiative for local growers off the ground. With partners, we will be looking to get 1,000 hectares of coppice underway within 2 – 3 years to supply a local market for wood fuel that sister company TV Bioenergy is establishing. This is good news for local farmers and growers who wish to diversify from traditional crops”.

TV Bioenergy Coppice Ltd has founding partners RMC Aggregates Ltd., Oxfordshire farmer John Willmer and Coppice Resources Ltd. The group will operate throughout the Thames Valley, Surrey and north Hampshire.

The group aims to encourage and develop the short rotation coppice (SRC) plantations in the Thames Valley by matching planting of SRC with developing markets coming on stream across the region. Through the group, growers will be offered a guaranteed market for their wood fuel and have access to expert technical advice. The group will coordinate activities of all growers to encourage greater efficiency of operation and to minimise costs (e.g. for planting, cutback and harvesting).

The group will build on existing international links such as those established with the International Energy Agency (IEA) Task 30 work on SRC, drawing down best practice into the UK. At a recent meeting in New Zealand, Charlotte Bruton presented the background to SRC actions in the UK. Charlotte said, “There is considerable interest in the approach that is being taken in the UK to get the industry moving. Many international groups see the UK as having tremendous potential to realise the promise of SRC if only we can overcome uncertainty and a number of non-technical barriers. We believe this new group will be able to focus resources and motivate local growers into action”.

The first board meeting of the group will be held on the 8th January 2004 and the group will hold an open day at John Willmer's farm in Oxfordshire in March 2004. Potential new growers will be very welcome!