Green boilers for NI leisure centres

19/03/2008

Biomass boilers will be installed at two Northern Ireland leisure centres in an energy-saving effort that will also support local farmers.

Local authorities in Cookstown and Omagh, County Tyrone, have commissioned the wood-fired boilers in the hope they will slash oil costs by up to 50 per cent, reports the Belfast Telegraph.

A £250,000 biomass boiler was installed in Cookstown leisure centre in February and is expected to be operating by the summer, while Omagh has started testing its own system.

Fuel for the boilers, which require more than 2,000 kilogrammes of willow wood chips a day to heat the swimming pools, will be provided by local farmers who have been growing it for several years.

Cookstown council chairman Ian McCrea told the paper: "Our aim was to provide the same level of service to our ratepayers, while reducing our greenhouse emissions as well as supporting local farming diversification for a sustainable future."

Today, the Steven's Croft biomass power plant opened in Scotland, which will generate enough green energy to power 70,000 homes.