Heating with wood chips continues to be very popular. The wood chips required for this purpose are made from residual wood, which is particularly environmentally friendly. One uses e.g. domestic wood which is no longer used in the sawmill industry, such as tree tops, broken pieces, bark, etc.. Because this wood does not have to be processed further, it ends up being a very inexpensive fuel – the running costs of a wood chip heating system are therefore comparatively low. Wood chips are mechanically shredded wood for our automatically fired biomass heating systems.
These factors influence the price of wood chips
The price of the fuel for the wood chip heating systems depends on several factors. For example, the water content is also an important criterion. Since fresh wood chips often have a high water content, they should first be dried before heating. It is recommended to achieve a water content of 20 – 35 %. Drier wood chips with a water content of 20% are more expensive than wood chips with a water content of 35%, because the heating value is higher with a lower water content.
The storage volume of wood chips is relatively large, about ten times that of oil or three times that of pellets. Wood chips are usually traded in bulk cubic meters.
The possible storage volume using the example of forest wood chips with a water content of 25%:
1 Srm FICHTE = 766 kWh = 76.6 l fuel oil EL
1 Srm BUCHE = 1058 kWh = 105,8 l fuel oil EL
On average, the following can be used as a guideline:
1000 l heating oil EL = 13 Srm spruce or 9,5 Srm beech (source:waermeausholz.at)
The price of wood chips in Austria
In summary, the price of forest chips depends on the quality and fuel properties, water content, bark content, etc., and is around 3.19 cents/kWh
(data February 2021, source: biomasseverband.at) or between 15 – 25 € / Srm. (Source:aktion-holz.de/hackschnitzel)
The delivery of wood chips is as easy as the delivery of pellets. Wood chips are delivered as a regional fuel, due to the short delivery routes extremely environmentally friendly e.g.: from a surrounding farmer, or a truck. Thus, the added value remains in the region.
Wood supply and utilization
According to an FAO study from 2020, the forest area in the EU has increased by 14 million hectares since 1990 (FAO = Forestry Division of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations). This corresponds to an increase of the area of Austria, Slovakia and Slovenia together. This clearly shows that Europe has been managing its forest areas sustainably for decades. (Source: Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Regions and Tourism)
Thus, enough and high quality fuel from our forests, in the form of wood chips, will be available in the future.
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