The UK government has recognised the supply of wood pellets in the UK is very short due to the suspension of wood pellets sourced or imported from Russia and Belarus.

It is estimated that up to 40% of the ENplus® pellets used in the UK are imported from Russia and Belarus. This suspension has had a huge impact on availability which has left us and other wood pellet providers having low levels of stock.

The government has been working with the wood pellet industry to assess options to minimise any potential disruption to the supply of wood pellets.

It has been announced a 12-month suspension of the requirements for wood pellets to require ENplus® A1 to be eligible for RHI payments in GB. This now means suppliers do not need ENplus® A1 to get a BSL number.

The UK government has stated “ We judge that a 12-month suspension of this requirement will permit additional supplies of wood pellets to be utilised this winter. In turn, it should also serve to mitigate against potential price rises due to a lack of supply. While we recognise that this could have some short-term negative impact on fuel efficiency and air quality in some cases, on balance it is judged as acceptable so that homes heated by biomass do not experience significant price rises or a lack of fuel supply altogether during this period. We will continue to closely monitor the supply chain for wood pellets and intend to reinstate the current requirements after 12 months”.

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We strongly recommend customers still use ENplus® A1 certified wood pellets!

A key advantage of ENplus® is that pellet quality is managed throughout the entire supply chain including production, storage, and transport to the end consumer.

Here at Balcas Energy, Our UK-produced high-quality biomass pellets are manufactured sustainably from virgin wood residue as a co-product of Balcas’s sawmilling process. Balcas Energy carefully screen, test, and quality check each pellet to comply with the highest quality accreditation.

The original timber is either spruce or pine. They are locally sourced from sustainably managed forests. There is no waste or recycled wood used in the manufacturing process of our biomass Wood Pellets.

What are the potential issues with using non ENplus®A1 certified wood pellets?

With customers using noncertified wood pellets they are most likely going to encounter one of the following:

  • Higher ash content –up to 10 times greater. More ash means less energy efficiency and increased boiler maintenance.
  • Lower ash melting temperature – greater risk of clinker causing blockages on the grate and reduced efficiencies.
  • Higher chlorine contents – The risk of accelerated heat exchanger corrosion in your biomass appliance.
  • Higher percentage fines content due to lower durability.
  • Very high chance of causing your appliance problems as soon as they enter the fuel delivery system. Non-certified pellets will look similar to certified pellets, you cannot tell the difference just from a visual inspection but they could behave very differently in your boiler.

4 key aspects of ENplus® Certified wood pellets

Are Balcas Energy wood pellets ENplus®?

At Balcas Energy, our locally manufactured Wood pellets are ENplus® A1 & BSL certified. We have listed a comprehensive list of our certificates and accreditations on this page, where we let customers see and download any document they need for their peace of mind and high-quality proofing – Our company can also be found on the official ENplus® A1 quality scheme website.

We control these high-quality standards since we manipulate the trees and timber, through the sustainable local manufacturing process in our two plants in Northern Ireland and Scotland through the entire delivery with our special fleet, and to your home or business address.

Please click on the image to see the specifications of our wood pellets compared to the ENplus® A1 quality scheme requirements.

Balcas Sustainability Manufacturing Process

Balcas is a business that is focused on the future. And there is no better future than one we can control.

At Balcas we believe that sustainably managed forests are our future. So we innovate with timber, taking care to use it as efficiently as possible, ensuring four trees are planted for every one we harvest.

Forests are the lungs of the planet and we are proud of the contribution that we are making towards fighting climate change:

If you need to speak to us about our locally produced high-quality wood pellets, please contact us by clicking HERE.

Thank You,

Balcas Energy