Dzintars Avatos, who is a plant operator himself and the CEO of Bio Speck SIA, gave a talk on how to operate a wood cogeneration plant ideally and how to dry wood chips efficiently. There was also a workshop on “Heat and electricity generation from wood chips” as part of the two-day event – this was held by Spanner Re² team member Martin Kurrer.

Scotston Farm has been an organic farming business for 14 years – with one of its core areas being egg production.

Diarmid Baird has been operating an HKA 45 wood cogeneration plant on his farm since October 2015. He uses the heat to heat the halls where his young animals are fed and reared. The halls require about 22 – 35° C all year round (depending on the age of the animals). Furthermore, he can also use it to control the humidity in the hall and keep it stable.

The heat is also used to dry the wood chips and different kinds of grain. During peak load times a straw burner is switched on as well. The private homes are also heated in winter. The electricity generated with renewable energies is used for the 24-hour light supply for the breeding halls and for the drying systems. He feeds the excess electricity into the national grid, for which he receives remuneration. Diarmid Baird is a real champion of renewable energies. Apart from wood cogeneration plants, he also operates an 800 KW wind turbine and prioritises products “Made in Germany”.

In mid August a show was hosted at Scotston Farm by our wood cogeneration plant customer Diarmid Baird, attracting a number of customers and interested visitors from the local area.