An Aberdeenshire biomass company has become one of the first in Scotland to be registered under the pioneering Government-backed Microgeneration Certification Scheme.

Portlethen-based Grampian Heat and Power (GHP) is one of the first Scottish companies to be accredited, and is one of several North-east Scotland companies leading the way in the adoption of biomass technology through wood fuel.

The fledgling company, which specialises in installing state-of-the-art wood fuel systems for domestic and commercial customers, operates from Unit 2, The Green, Berrymuir Road, Portlethen, Aberdeenshire, where it has its HQ and a showroom.

Farmer's son and former dairy cattleman and soldier, Turriff-born Andy Malcolm, 39, launched GHP less than three years ago - supplying and installing wood fuel boilers and heat pump systems. The company recently appointed a contracts manager David Trotter, who also hails from Turriff.

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Young Scottish farmers are being encouraged to lead the way in biomass technology - with grants of up to 60% of the installation cost at a time when it’s most needed.

At a major seminar in the Grassic Gibbon Centre at Arbuthnott, Andy and the Forestry Commission Scotland's biomass development officer Ian Cowe al hailed wood fuel technology as ideal for farmers.

Cowe explains why farmers, particularly those aged 16 to 40, are being offered a particularly high grant rate under the Scottish Rural Development Programme.

"The Scottish Government felt that young farmers may need extra encouragement to be able to afford this technology," he points out. "While young farmers are usually more willing to try new technology and use new forms of heating, they are also the group who face the highest running costs for their farm business, higher mortgage payments or rent, and the costs of a young family, so it was felt they needed a special premium to help cover initial capital costs."

So while farmers, foresters and landowners can claim up to 40% in grant help, young farmers can claim a preferential premium of 10% and - in certain cases - even more, as Ian explained.

"Landowners in Less Favoured Areas can claim 50%. So if they also qualify as a young farmer that would take it up to 60%."

The Microgeneration Strategy was launched three years ago by the Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform. It raises awareness of microgeneration technologies and the role they can play in reducing carbon emissions and energy bills.

(GK/JM)