THE first large-scale wood pellet production facility in the Republic of Ireland was officially opened on Wed-nesday of last week by Eamon Ryan, Minister for Communication, Energy and Natural Resources.
D Pellet Ltd in Knocktopher is owned by Larry and Sorcha Doyle and they currently employ 11 people directly in Knocktopher. The facility is approx 30,000sqft on a seven-acre site, which is capable of producing 70,000 tonnes of premium wood pellets p
er annum.
D Pellet is using forestry thinnings sourced mainly from local private growers, harvesters and Coillte. Contracts with growers, harvesters and haulage companies have been finalised to ensure a reliable supply of raw materials. They also intend to have a stock in hand of 20,000 tonnes of raw materials together with at least 5,000 tonnes of bulk wood pellets and 2,000 tonnes of bagged wood pellets.
Distribution Network
D Pellet has a number of trucks on the road designed specifically for bulk-wood pellet delivery. These trucks have a high-pressure blowing system and also have the capacity to extract dust from bulk storage areas. D Pellet’s client base consists of home owners, schools, hotels, apartment blocks, shopping centres and many more large commercial users. They have also finalised contracts with retail chains to establish service contracts for bagged pellets.
Quality Control
D Pellet stress that ongoing quality control is an integral part of their production process to enable traceability, monitoring and maintenance of a high quality standard of wood
In addition, they acknowledge that poor quality pellets in certain cases have given wood pellet heating systems some bad publicity. The public needs to be more aware of the source, contents and standard of wood pellets currently available on the Irish market. D Pellet indicates that they are producing a premium grade pellet which surpasses both the German and Austrian standards i.e. ONORM M7135 and DINplus
With the continuance of government assistance and grants for renewable technology together with unstable oil prices, the demand for wood pellets is increasing at a steady rate. This wood pellet production facility is essential to ensure continued growth from both an economic and environmental view point. With the shortages of wood pellets two to three years ago confidence within the industry was decimated with high price increases and exceptionally long delivery times.
This new plant will hopefully help stabilise prices and bring renewed confidence back into the industry.
