Straw pellets may heat rural locations in Odessa region

Sun-21-2011

Straw pellet production Despite of the fact that we live in the era of Internet, mobile connection and other high technologies, there are lots of people in Ukraine who every day have to carry coal and firewood in order to fire their stoves and heat themselves. For example, in Odessa region the habitants of over 400 towns and villages have been dreaming of gas service installation in their houses for a long time. Still years pass, local clerks fob off with promises, yet the perspectives of such a luxury like "gas in a house" get more and more fuzzy. The reason of such problems is painfully familiar – there’s always the lack of funds in local budgets for supplying dwelling houses and social facilities with gas. During the interview the vice-chairman of the regional administration in Odessa region Alexander Malin said that there is no such a budget which is sufficient for supplying with gas all rural locations and social facilities in Odessa region. Therefore, it’s necessary to treat the question of using alternative energy sources very seriously and to start acting immediately. That’s not just the following novelty, this is the measure which may improve the living standard of many people in of Odessa region.

During the heating period 2011-2011 the authorities in Odessa region carried quite a successful experiment with alternative energy sources. The boiler rooms working on biofuel were installed for heating certain social facilities, moreover one of the biggest boiler houses started functioning at the central district hospital of Artsyz. Straw and wood pellets were mainly applied as an alternative fuel. Thanks for such novelty the financial load on the local budgets decreased, and the most important, it was really warm in regional schools, kindergartens and hospitals within the whole heating period.

In the opinion of the governor of Odessa region Nikolay Serdyuk, only a miserable number of opportunities for alternative heating is used in Ukraine. Strawis one of such perspective and effective energy sources. As Mr. Serdyuk affirms, Ukrainian agricultural companies annually have about 50 million tones of straw left on fields. The national stock of these raw materials is the biggest in Europe, thus it’s really unwise not to use it for heating. The experts calculated, that if to heat with straw pellets, then 2-3 tones will be enough for heating one hospital or a school.

It should be mentioned that heating value features of straw pellets are not worse that the ones of wood pellets. Moreover, in Ukraine straw feedstock is much cheaper and more available than wood, what certainly influences the final production price. If to compare straw pellets with gas, such advantages as high packed density and high energy concentration (when the volume is insignificant) of pellets can be noted. Thanks for these features it’s easy and relatively cheap to store and transport straw pellets for long distances. In addition, during delivering the probability of burning or explosion is extremely small. And certainly straw pellets is a sustainable fuel in contrast to gas.

According to the analysts’ opinion, these days the production and distribution of straw pellets is a rather profitable business. The need in such fuel in Ukraine is definitely high. First of all it’s connected with a regular growth of rates for traditional fuel. Moreover, environmental regulations in the majority of European countries get more and more tough, what also encourages people to start using biofuel. As a result, for the time being the demand for pellets have already prevailed over supply, thus if the business is run reasonably it won’t be a problem to find a purchaser of straw pellets and sell out the whole volume of the production. Though the Ukrainian infrastructure in this power sector is undeveloped, the straw pellet market still reacts on the world tendencies and gradually develops. The annual sale volume grows together with the number of produces and suppliers who permanently establish the necessary contacts and promote their production more and more actively.

Reacting to the market situation, the partners of Ukrainian Biofuel Portal developed the business plan, devoted to arranging the production of straw pellets. The present project includes the detailed description of all production preparation and launching stages, as well as calculation of the expected profit and the period of the investment cost recoupment. Besides this, all intended expenses are listed out in the project including administrative and marketing costs. It’s emphasized in the project that in order to launch the production process and penetrate the market successfully, it’s primarily necessary to purchase the needed equipment, transport and industrial premises. The market of straw pellet consumers is analyzed. On the basis of this analysis the annual sales volume is forecasted and the approximate prices are calculated.

The presented project will become quite a valuable source of info for the entrepreneurs planning to organize the commercial activity connected with straw pellet production. Thanks for this project the stages of planning, launching the production process and penetrating the market will proceed more smoothly and quicker. Furthermore, the valuable data and precise computation will help to avoid lots of mistakes and diseconomies caused by the absence of a sufficient experience.

The mentioning of this business-plan is not occasional as today such projects is just what is needed for the successful implementation of the authorities’ plans in Odessa region. The demand for alternative energy sources definitely exists, moreover after the government’s decision to switch the majority of rural houses and social facilities to biofuel this demand will certainly increase soon. Yet the infrastructure on this market is not developed well, most producers, suppliers and customers only start establishing the needed contacts and as they say try everything blindly. The entrepreneurs, who plan such a new for Ukraine business as a straw pellet production, definitely need the precise computation, the market analysis and the detailed description of the production process preparation. Thanks for this information it will be much easier for them to arrange the production process, to penetrate the market and surely supply the habitants of Odessa region with such a long-awaited available warmth.

Source: http://ukrfuel.com/news-straw-pellets-may-heat-rural-locations-i-14.html

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