Kielder District Heating Scheme
Kielder, a village of about 200 people, with its petrol station, village shop and pub, is already an oasis for cyclists, walkers and other visitors. Now it is attracting increasing numbers of parties interested in renewable energy, who are keen to learn from this exemplary district heating project.
Kielder Castle Visitor Centre
6 new 3 bedroom homes
Rivermead Workshops
Kielder Community First School
Kielder Youth Hostel
Boiler House
Locally-grown wood is chipped and stored by Forest Enterprise at a specially designed fuel store in the village, which will be filled up about 3-4 times a year.
The wood chip fuel is then delivered to the boiler house and is fed to a 300 kilowatt Austrian Köb boiler. The hot water is piped to surrounding buildings, where heat exchangers transfer the energy into domestic central heating and hot water systems.
A heat meter measures the amount of energy used by each customer, and the local community company sends them monthly heating bills. With the assistance of Tynedale Council and Forest Enterprise, Kielder Community Enterprise Ltd. has taken on the role of an energy supply company or “ESCO”, to manage the scheme on behalf of the community.
The Kielder district heating scheme supplies heat and hot water to:
- Kielder Castle Visitor Centre
- Six new 3-bedroom homes
- 6 Workshops (including an artist in residency studio)
- Kielder Community First School
- Kielder Youth Hostel
There are currently many renewable energy projects in place throughout Northumberland, and in this section we have chosen a few to illustrate the kind of work that is going on. Select an area of Northumberland on the map on the right to see what renewable energy projects are happening right now in that vacinity.
Alternatively, click here to see a full list of countywide projects.
