County residents are tapping into a natural energy resource from the UK in a bid to beat rising heating bills.
Biomass boilers are growing in popularity among people in rural areas who are keen to avoid the volatility of fossil fuel prices.
James McFetrich, who lives in a 100-year-old large detached property near Morpeth, has switched from oil to biomass. He chose a fully automatic 25kW Solarfocus Pellettop boiler from The Wood Heating Company.
The cost of the project was £32,000 but, depending on projected energy consumption, he is expected to earn in the region of £6,800 a year through the Government’s RHI scheme. He is also expected to make fuel cost saving of £523 per year.
Mr McFetrich said: “The heat losses from a property like mine are too great for a ground source heat pump to handle and so biomass was certainly my best option.”