The project involves the installation of a wood chip boiler to power the town hall, the school and a business in Venizy, a small municipality in Yonne, a department located in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region.
- 16 January 2020
The project has helped to reduce operating costs by no longer relying on fuel oil and electricity, rationalising the use of wood and reducing CO2 emissions
The heating systems of the communal buildings, which ran on fuel oil, accounted for a significant budget. On the recommendations of a feasibility study, the municipality of Venizy installed a wood chip boiler.
Chipped wood is a natural fuel that comes in the form of small, homogeneous pieces of wood. They are used to supply firewood boilers for individuals, businesses and communities. This natural resource has the advantage of being at the same time economical, ecological and local, coming from the wood of the communal forest.
A saving of more than 50%
Using the ERDF grant, the municipality was able to carry out the installation of a boiler. It is a building of 16 m2 housing two wood boilers of 90 kW each, powered independently of each other. The grant also enabled the construction of a common silo with rotary silencer with a useful volume of 45 m3, allowing a supply by skips of 40 m3. In addition, a supply system using blow moulding machines was installed.
The new boiler room saves more than 50% of the costs related to heating and domestic hot water. The substituted fossil energy is equal to 20 tonnes of oil equivalent (TEP) per year and the fossil CO2 avoided corresponds to 63 tonnes per year. In addition, this boiler room makes it possible to develop the local wood resource and to perpetuate an agricultural group operating jointly in the wood sector.
A virtuous circle
The building, located in the centre of the small town, has daring architecture. Designed by the architect Bernd Hoge, from the HVR office in Noyers, it echoes the bell tower of the nearby church, like a nod to the past. The building site for the boiler room is located in the small town in the immediate vicinity of the town hall and the church. The project has redesigned this space to open up views and access to the church by constructing a grand staircase facing the doors of the church. The boiler room, positioned on the side, marks this new opening. In addition, the architecture of the boiler room reflects particular roofs specific to the village.
The fourth forest commune of the Yonne thus abandons fuel oil and electricity to burn its own wood from the 800 hectares of forest belonging to it. In the process, a second boiler room was installed to heat the “House of Culture”, previously heated by an electric generator.
This project is an integral part of the municipality's policy on energy transition. The objective is to no longer depend on fuel oil or nuclear electricity because of their prohibitive cost, as an ecological commitment and a desire to rationalise the wood of the forest.
Total investment and European funding
Total investment for the project ‘Installation of a wood chip boiler’ is EUR 277 347; the European Regional Development Fund contribution is EUR 133 451 through the ‘ERDF-ESF Bourgogne’ cooperation programme for the 2014-2020 programming period. The investment is part of the ‘Energy Union and Climate’ priority.