Micro-boilers using shredded wood to sell heat

Project details

  • Main leader : ERE43 SCIC
  • Type of initiative : Initiative involving different people (collective, etc.)
  • Périmètre : Est du Département de la Haute-Loire
  • Localisation : ZA La Guide II - 43200 Yssingeaux
  • Date de début : janvier 2007

Economy circular topics

  • Functional service economy
  • Extending useful service life
  • Responsible consumption
  • Industrial and regional ecology
  • Recycling
  • Eco-design
  • Sustainable procurement
Description

ERE 43 offers a long-term heat supply contract to its users. The heat is produced by micro-boilers (Modul'R) fuelled by shredded wood. These facilities are designed to meet the different energy needs of public entities and private people with large areas to be heated, such as retirement homes, swimming pools, restaurants, etc. allowing individuals to be connected if a duct passes in front their property. Modul'Rs are installed near the premises to be heated which are connected to them by buried ducts. They house a wood-fired boiler and a storage bin for wood chips.

ERE 43 retains ownership of the micro-boiler plants and is responsible for investment, installation and operation (including procurement, maintenance and troubleshooting). The customer pays only for what he consumes with a meter installed at the entrance of the building. 

ERE 43 is based in Haute-Loire, a high-lying region which has significant forest resources and large heating requirements. Heat is sold on the basis of an integrated channel managed as an SCIC:

  • The micro-boilers are designed by ERE 43
  • Wood chips come from by-products produced by foresters and local farmers associated with the activity (carpentry, maintenance of forests, etc.)
  • The boiler rooms are made of wood by local companies who are also partners.
  • ERE 43 collects the wood, stores it, grinds it into chips, stores the chips and delivers them.

For reasons of efficiency and quality of service (quick troubleshooting in particular), the boiler rooms are all within a radius of 30 km of ERE 43’s “wood energy hub”.

Qualitative benefits

  • Develop local renewable energies 
  • Enhance the Haute-Loire forest heritage, local know-how and the wood-energy sector in general through cooperation between people involved in the area.
  • Provide a two-way link and transparency with regard to clients via governance in the form of an SCIC (shared ownership)
  • Ensure carefree use, rapid response to breakdowns and energy efficiency adapted to local needs
  • Make maximizing the reproductive capacity of the forest and the life cycle of the products part of the activity. Thought is being given, for example, to how to add value to ashes.
  • Strengthen the sector, both upstream (production) and downstream (thermal insulation of buildings

Stages of the initiative

2000: ERE 43 created as an association 

2007: Société Coopérative d'Intérêt Collectif (cooperative community-oriented enterprise) status adopted

2011 - 2012: ADEME funding obtained for a group of twelve micro-boilers to help the activity take off

Obstacles:

The energy sector depends on factors that are difficult to control:

  • Changing consumer trends
  • The “popularity” of energies
  • Public incentives
  • Changing price of materials. The price of oil, currently falling, creates a wait-and-see phenomenon, but conversely, in the event of a rise, it may create anxiety, which is also incompatible with setting up large-scale projects.

The scope of the activity limits the size of the market.

Levers:

Selling boilers and managing the service using subcontractors is not the most appropriate form of management for this activity. On the contrary, managing the complete chain and designing a turnkey service makes it possible to obtain better results in terms of efficiency and profitability. Turning it into a SCIC allows for shared governance and the involvement of different partners. This status is a lever for the development of the business.

The SCIC status is also valuable for the funding model it provides.

Proximity with users is a guarantee of confidence: the company benefits from word-of-mouth.

The allocation of more substantial funding by ADEME in 2011-2012 enabled a critical threshold for the activity to be validated, thereby allowing economies of scale, helping the SCIC to become more competitive in the face of competition and improving the solutions proposed.

  Photo credit: ERE 43

Areas of activity

  • Energy
  • Services
  • Funding

Resources

  • Wood
  • Renewable energies
  • Energy efficiency
  • Heating networks
Implementation

Technical resources

  • A maintenance service
  • Fully equipped response vehicles
  • 3 wood storage platforms
  • 22 boiler rooms
  • A micro-boiler monitoring system
  • A delivery model

Human resources

7 employees 

Partnerships with companies in the Haute-Loire region, farmers / foresters, etc.

Financers

  • Union Européenne
  • ERDF Fund


  • ADEME

  • Région Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes

  • Département de la Haute Loire

  • Energie Partagée

  • Crédit coopératif

Funding

Average cost: €1000 per Kilowatt - Public financing - Shares in the capital
Share:
22
Author of the page

Jacques Villevieille

Moderator

Vincent Jay

Chef de projets