Wood Heat 2019 Conference Roundup

On Tuesday and Wednesday this week we sent three members of our team to the joint UK Pellet Council and Wood Heat Association conference called Wood Heat 2019. Boris came over from our St. Petersburg office and Alan and myself drove up from London to join for the two day event.

The conference focused on the positive benefits of sustainable and renewable biomass heat and combined heat and power (CHP) but also touched on significant challenges from Government legislation such as the Clean Air Strategy, which threatens to undermine the role of biomass.

It was an important time to meet with our partners in the industry and reflect on the 2019 season which looks like it is already drawing to a close. Having reflected back on the two days, it has been well worth the time and travel upto Manchester, we listened to the informative talks, and spent some time with our customers. We also met many other biomass companies, suppliers and installers in the industry. One of our key take aways has been the need for a greater push to promote Biomass in the UK. Our industry is getting heaped in with wet wood and others in a clean air debate, when Biomass is really one of the cleanest wood fuels available. We intend to fully support the renewed push to promote Biomass and the heating industry when the new marketing campaign in revealed.

The programme was varied, and along with the board meetings for the two organisations holding the conference we were particularly interested in the sessions:

Keynote address from Richard Burrell, CEO at AMP Clean Energy
Pellet Market Update by Fiona Matthews at Hawkins Wright
Outlook for UK Biomass Heat and CHP
A new industry-wide marketing campaign for Biomass
Incorporating quality assurance into the BSL scheme from Andrew Hopton at Woodsure

It was also a pleasure to meet many of our customers, and also put a face to the name behind our emails. If we didn't get to meet then please drop us a message, we are always happy to meet and discuss the industry and pellet supply. We look forward to meeting up with everyone again soon.

The Conference in Photos - Wood Heat 2019