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I thought your audience might be interested in the story below. It covers an announcement within the Surrey-based biomass industry.

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Louise Evans

Loop PR

Acquisition puts biomass fuel supplier LC Energy in prime industry position

LC Energy, one of the UK's leading specialists in sustainable wood fuel supply, has acquired Ecolyf, an MCS accredited company which specialises in the supply, installation and maintenance of wood fuel boilers.

The acquisition in August means LC Energy becomes one of only a handful of UK companies to provide a one-stop biomass service covering the supply and installation process through to fuelling and maintenance for boilers. It will also give the company, which is the sole supplier to Heathrow Airport's biomass energy centre and Center Parcs Woburn, the opportunity to further grow its market across both industrial and domestic sectors.

"The beauty of our new integrated service," says Mark Lebus, managing director of LC Energy, "is that any issues with the operation of biomass boilers can be addressed and customers can feel confident that they have the ongoing support of committed specialists through every stage of the process, whether it be specifying and supplying the correct fuel for a particular boiler or ensuring that a boiler system is appropriately installed in the first place.

"The quality of the wood fuel is crucial to the performance and reliability of the biomass boiler and there have been cases where some suppliers have not met these standards leading to problems with boilers. Now that we are involved in the sourcing and maintenance of the boilers, as well as supplying the fuel, we can ensure a seamless and reliable service to customers.

The priority for our company is to provide complete and fit-for-purpose biomass solutions with after-sales service and fuel supply. In the few months since the contract was signed, there has already been considerable success in the form of two 199kW installations, Birtley House Care Home and Tormead Independent School, as well as six domestic installations and a long enquiry list for service and maintenance contracts."

LC Energy operates across the South and East of England with an established base of public, private and commercial sectors from primary schools and care homes to global hotel groups, leisure parks, hospitals and international airports. The company has won recognition for its policy of supplying wood chip fuel which is sustainably harvested and sourced locally.

Mike Barnsley, managing director of Ecolyf, retains a 20 per cent interest and will continue as LC Energy's head of engineering. "I'm really excited about this partnership. The two businesses are so complementary and now our customers have the assurance of dealing with a company of a much larger magnitude, one with a pool of technical resources and a considerable infrastructure.

"My existing customers are delighted. We ran a very personal service installing and maintaining biomass boilers but were always conscious of the fact that they require good quality fuel to run efficiently. Now, our customers can be reassured that this comes as a given."

LC energy is very confident in prospects for growth following the acquisition, reflected in its ambitious new business targets. It has seen demand for its services increase by as much as one third over the past year. The company suggests that the rising popularity of biomass is linked to an increasing realisation of its inherent cost benefits¹and sustainability profile², plus the advantage of generous government incentives such as the Renewable Heat Incentive scheme (RHI) which are now available to the domestic market.

-Ends-

Notes to editors

For media enquiries, please contact Louise Evans, Loop PR, on 07891 242476 or visit lcenergy.co.uk

1. Using a domestic home requiring about 15,000 kWhrs of heat per year: at this rate, and at current prices for usable heat, here are the costings:

Electricity = 12.7 p/kWhr = £1,900/yr
Oil = 6.5 p/kWhr = £975/yr
Coal = 6.0 p/kWhr = £900/yr
Mains gas = 4.5 p/kWhr = £600/yr
Wood pellets = 5 p/kWhr = £750/yr
(based on £240 per tonne (bagged) and 4,800 kWhrs per tonne)
Woodchips = 3.5 p/kWhr = £530/yr

2. Biomass takes carbon out of the atmosphere while it is growing, and returns it as it is burned. If managed on a sustainable basis, biomass is harvested as part of a constantly replenished crop. This is either during woodland or arboricultural management or coppicing, or as part of a continuous programme of replanting with the new growth taking up CO₂ from the atmosphere at the same time as it is released by combustion of the previous harvest. This maintains a closed carbon cycle with no net increase in atmospheric CO₂ levels, sometimes referred to as ‘carbon neutral'.