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ProgressPlantingIn May 2004 the project planted 20ha of willow on three commercial farms, in May 2005 a further 4 sites were planted, bringing the total area up to 37ha (crop test sites). The first plantings were an intimate mixture of Tora, Tordis and Sven (supplied by Agrobransle) and Ashton Stott, bred by Long Ashton Research Station, now part of Rothamsted Research, and Resolution, bred by the European Willow Breeding Partnership (supplied by Murray Carter Ltd). The later plantings were a mixture of Torda, Tordis, Torhild, Inger and Sven. One site experienced establishment problems and was replanted in 2006 and Sven was replaced with Gudrun - a wide leaved variety.Progress in the project since planting in 2004 is detailed on the crop test site pages
HarvestingChoosing a site needs to take into account the needs at harvesting time:
Harvesting needs to take the following into consideration:
Harvesting window – November through to March as:-
Obviously ground conditions need to be fairly firm to take harvester and trailers – so site selection should be for a freely drained site with good access. Harvested product can be stored on site and air dried for several months before transport to end user– or transported at harvest for forced drying(higher transport costs) Target is to produce a chip that is suitable for feeding straight into a biomass energy plant without further processing – with few strips/tails. Yields On good quality ground willow should produce 10t ODT (oven dried tons)/ha/yr – so if harvesting every three years one hectare would produce 30odt – (60t fresh). Current market value is around £40/odt. Harvesting options There are specialist willow harvesting machines available – but are expensive and obviously only have a 4 month/year working period. It seems a more sensible option to use and modify existing machinery that can still be used for grass and maize during the rest of the year. The modifications required include:-
Possible harvesting methods are illustrated in the following pictures
Harvesting commenced in November 2008 at the Ruthin sites i.e at Cilgoed near Derwen and Cernyfed near Cyffilliog. Forestry equipment was used at Cilgoed – see crop site page, (as modified maize harvesting machinery was unsuitable) to cut, then bale the willow whilst at Cernyfed a chainsaw team cut the willow which was then baled in the same way as we did at Cilgoed. The bales have now been removed from both sites for use at Shotton mill. A two minute video clip of the harvesting can be seen following this link- Willow Harvesting at Cilgoed and Cernyfed 2008 ContractsAll the growers have signed contracts to supply woodchip to energy users. The two Pembrokeshire sites have a contract with Pembrokeshire Bio-Energy to supply the Bluestone Project which is planning to provide heat and power to 350 holiday chalets and a large 'waterworld' complex. The remaining sites have contracts with EGNI - the Bridgend site is likely to supply Aberthaw power station, whilst the North Wales sites will probably be sent to a power plant at Shotton papermill.Harvesting of all the sites is planned for 2008 although the site at Narberth had an early harvest in 2006 so that we could familiarize ourselves with the machinery and any logistical problems. It is planned to use the harvested chip to commission the new boiler at the site. Environmental Monitoring A team from Cardiff University based at Biomass Centre Wales in Newbridge-on-Wye have undertaken a programme on monitoring to assess the impacts of SRC on bird, insect and small mammal populations. |
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