Ulf Löfgren, financial director at Iggesund Paperboard in Workington, UK, helped to develop a program in which local farmers provide the fuel supply for the company’s new biofuel boiler.

Iggesund Paperboard’s new biofuel boiler, which cost 108 million pounds, is ready for operation in Workington, England. The purpose is to supply the mill’s entire energy requirements with self-produced energy in the form of steam and electricity, going from fossil natural gas to biofuel.

In order to operate, Iggesund will need 500,000 tons of combustible material annually. So to ensure supply, the company has launched a campaign to interest local farmers in cultivating energy forest in the form of willow, which grows well in the area. To this end, Ulf Löfgren, financial director, said his team developed a package of measures that includes technical advice, financial support for the transition and a harvesting and transport service, all based on long-term contracts.

Löfgren says the new market for these crops should be considerably larger than for just Iggesund’s requirements, as “it is widely expected that energy produced from fossil sources like coal and oil will become far more expensive in the future.”