A plan to use a biomass plant to heat Aberdeen's David Welch Winter Gardens has been unanimously backed by the council's Housing and Environment Committee.

The Winter Gardens is heated by an oil boiler and a gas boiler, which costs approximately £131,200 per year. The estimated cost of heating the greenhouses with a biomass plant is £58,340 per year. It could also reduce the amount of carbon dioxide generated by the council by 697.9 tonnes annually.

Councillors welcomed the plans and agreed that a biomass fuel-supply contract would include the use of surplus wood from the city's parks, with a view to developing an income-generating wood-fuel production base in Aberdeen.

The city's parks produce wood from fallen trees, cuttings, and brash. Some of this is sold as logs at Hazlehead Park and some of the remaining wood is chipped to top-dress park pathways. The amount produced is expected to increase in the future because the council's woodlands are being much more actively managed than before.

The council is to seek to enter into a contract with a biomass supplier for Duthie Park to ensure that the surplus woody material from the council's parks and woods is fed into the biomass supply chain. This will involve the successful biomass supply company agreeing to buy the wood from the council, chip it at a city site and sell it, potentially as part of the supply to the Winter Gardens.

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The creation of a chipping facility could be used to prime the establishment of a wood-fuel production base in Aberdeen, initially using woody material from council lands and forests, with the potential of developing it into an income-generating scheme making use of surplus and waste wood from throughout the city.

The estimated capital cost of installing the biomass plant is £423,000, with estimated annual savings on running costs of £65.090. The capital costs can be recovered through a combination of grant funding, a non-housing capital contribution from the council and funding from the Central Energy Efficiency Fund.

Housing and Environment convener Councillor Aileen Malone welcomed the recommendations made in the report. She said: "This is an interesting and significant step which will save the council a significant amount of money while making significant inroads into meeting our carbon reduction commitment.

"Aberdeen has already been nationally recognised for its combined heat and power plants, which have brought significant financial and environmental benefits to the city, and this is great step towards achieving even more."

Vice convener Councillor Mark McDonald said: "We need radical solutions to both housing and environmental issues which achieve not only financial savings, but also things which will make a significant impact on carbon reduction.

"I'm sure these plans will be looked at with interest by other local authorities who are keen to know more about this type of scheme with a view to implement it. Aberdeen is an innovative city and we should welcome the fact that officers are coming forward with such innovative ideas."

(GK/BMcC)