A Viennese whirl

As part of the Intelligent Energy Europe funded Make It Be project I recently attended a Field Study tour to Gussing in south east Austria to look its approach to wood fuel development. I also had a personal interest, which was to actually see the Danube.

Woodland is more than 50% of land cover in the region. The key differences in the resource compared to Scotland are that the tree species, soils and climate all favour alternatives to clearfell; and most importantly, that it is underutilised. Until the mid 1990’s there was almost no harvesting. Even informal firewood markets had declined significantly in the face of cheap fossil fuels. As a result energy production and use was an extractive part of the local economy as all expenditure on energy channelled money out of the local economy rather than re-circulating income within it.

The key driver for developing renewable energy in Gussing was depopulation within a declining local economy and the renewable energy development process has been led by a strong local council which administers Gussing and the surrounding area. This contrasts markedly with Scotland where there is only the community council below regional government level.

The main aim was to develop decentralised local energy production using the existing renewable resources in the area, thereby ensuring independence from fossil fuels and enhancing added value within the region.

The first step was to introduce energy saving measures, allowing energy demand to be reduced and reprofiled. Small district heating schemes were than installed in small villages around Gussing, followed in 1996 by the Gussing District Heating Plant, since when there have been many more developments.

Initially it was difficult to persuade consumers to join the heating networks but eventually the combination of convenience and a stable energy price proved very attractive. The stable energy price also began to attract other industries to the region. The first of these was parquet flooring using local oak with co product feeding into the district heating grid and heat from the grid being used to kiln the timber.

The area is now 100% self sufficient in terms of supply to private homes and public buildings. In addition 1100 jobs have been created, including those in industries attracted in by the energy availability.

The largest CHP plant is fuelled by primarily by Oak chips, with some Beech and Birch also in the mix. Only wood that meets a <35% moisture content is accepted. The wood fuel resource is a predominantly broadleaved and mixed woodland with most wood fuel coming from the poorer quality elements of the broadleaved woodland, although much of the roundwood might find alternative markets if in the UK, or in an area with capacity for lamination and finger jointing.

Despite different political structures and far greater competition for the Highland wood fuel resource elements of the Gussing model are still applicable. Development in Gussing began with energy saving measures and district heating schemes in small villages. This approach is valid throughout much of Highland. Small communities with robust energy saving measures would generate a level of heat demand that could be readily be met in many parts of Highland where there are woodland resources because the raw material requirement is too small to impinge on the needs of large, remote markets.

After two very interesting days we spent an evening in Vienna before catching an early plane home. We saw many wonderful sights that evening and as we whirled through the city desperate to not to waste a precious moment. However Vienna is big, and the only time I saw the Danube was in a break in the cloud just after take off the next morning.