Dr James McFetrich lives in a 100 year old large detached property near Morpeth. He has made the switch from oil to biomass and is looking forward to reaping the rewards over the coming years.

Dr McFetrich chose a fully automatic 25kW Solarfocus Pellettop boiler from The Wood Heating Company which will meet all of the heating and hot water demands of the property. Solarfocus boilers are manufactured in Austria - long regarded as the home of quality biomass boilers as the Austrians have been heating their homes and businesses using biomass for many decades.

The cost of the project was £32,000 and, depending on his Green Deal assessment and projected energy consumption, he is expected to earn in the region of £6,800 a year through the RHI scheme. He is also expected to make fuel cost saving of £523 per year by switching from oil to wood pellets.

James said: “Biomass is the only practical solution when it comes to heating a property of this age and size. I wanted to move away from fossil fuels and the heat losses from a property like mine are too great for a ground source heat pump to handle. Biomass was certainly the best option for me. I’ve done the maths and it is a good investment with payback from day one.”