THE idea of the North-East playing a significant part in the production and use of wood fuel in the future was unveiled at a seminar in Teesdale last week.

Woodfuel - Getting it Right, held over two days at the Jersey Farm Hotel, Barnard Castle, looked at the opportunities offered by wood and forest residues as fuel for generating heat and power and aimed to forge a link between those creating wood fuel and its potential users.

Neil Harrison, a director of Northwoods, which organised the event in conjunction with the Forestry Commission, said: "This is about encouraging local people to see that this is an emerging market.

"National and international policy has set renewable energy targets, and these events are the local response to those. We are trying to provide local businesses with opportunities and ensure that the North-East does its bit in increasing renewables."

Mr Harrison outlined recent plans for a biodiesel plant on Teesside and also referred to a £650,000 scheme at Kielder Village, previously reported in the D&S Times, which provides heating and hot water for the school, youth hostel, visitor centre and six new homes, using wood fuel.

Those at the Jersey Farm had a chance to visit Langton Grange Woods, on Lord Barnard's Raby Estates, to see practical demonstrations on wood production. They then visited Staindrop Comprehensive School to look at the changes made there in order to run former coal-fired boilers with wood pellets.

Speaking of woodland which was not managed any more, Mr Harrison said: "If we can create markets for these products it hits a lot of green objectives.

"The Kielder system has been running since Easter and they have only collected a wheelie bin full of ash, which can be recycled. The beauty of wood is that it is stored energy, just waiting to be used."

Gavin Gulliver-Goodall of 3G Energi, an importer of wood-fuelled stoves and boilers, is also the chairman of the newly-formed British Pellet Club, which aims to set a standard in the quality of wood pellets to ensure maximum efficiency.

He demonstrated three stoves at the seminar, outlining the cost of providing domestic heating, or heating and hot water, which could vary from £6-£20 depending on the size of the house. The equipment is fitted with the latest technology which means ignition at the flick of a switch, with a remote control console to adjust heat settings.

"There is no messing about with paper and sticks to light them and no ash to clean out every day," said Mr Gulliver-Goodall.

As part of the seminar, Geoff Hatfield, chief executive of Forest Enterprise England, launched a new Woodfuel Information Pack, containing factsheets on all aspects of using wood for fuel. It is aimed at helping people make informed decisions on heating or power generation schemes.

The pack is the result of several years' development work by Forest Research - the research agency of the Forestry Commission - which clearly outlined the benefits of using wood as a fuel.

"It should give potential developers the information and confidence they need to specify woodfuel heat, and energy, production as part of their plans," said Mr Hatfield.