In keeping with its commitment to a minimal impact on the environment and the natural world, timber products specialist GMG Energy has announced that is planting another 10,000 trees in a swathe of forest it owns in the far north-east of Scotland. The latest enhancement of its strategic reserve of timber is part of an ongoing resource replenishment programme which is based on the industry standard of one-for-one, but the company has substantially exceeded that target in most recent years..
The new planting will take place on 400 acres of softwood-planted land at Quintfall Forest, towards the east coast south of John O’Groats, which GMG Energy purchased early last year to protect future supply and increase its resilience to market shocks. It will be overseen by forestry consultant Donald McClelland, from Caithness, who will assemble a team to undertake the planting and will then manage the growth and wellbeing of the crop until maturity after 35 years.
Malcolm Morrison, Director of GMG Energy, said: “We are committed to replacing every log of timber that we use in our sawmill, biomass and timber products facility in the Strath of Halladale in Sutherland and this latest tranche of planting maintains that momentum. We are also dramatically reducing our reliance on diesel fuels with the recent installation of a solar array of more than 100 photovoltaic panels on the roof of the main production facility at the plant. Quintfall is just over 20 miles from our base of operation at Bighouse Farm, so it will not add to the road miles burden and planting there will chime with our wish to invest locally and provide a reliable resource for other local companies.”
The company, which has a turnover in the region of £2million, has also installed a high-tech preservation tank which will provide treated and stress-tested timber products for local concerns which previously had to source supply from much further afield. They have also become even more energy efficient after putting a massive solar array on the roof of its production facility into operation.
The six-figure initiative means that biomass supplier GMG Energy can now move away from the use of expensive and polluting diesel generators for its energy-intensive activities and rely instead on electricity created from the long daylight hours of the north-east of Scotland. The £100,000 installation and commissioning of the new power system has been supported by a £70,000 loan from the Energy Saving Trust, repayable over nine years, and will allow GMG to substantially mitigate its heaviest fixed cost. In addition, the £34,000 introduction of three-phase power for GMG’s electric motors and other heavy loads has been supported by Highlands and Islands Enterprise with a 50% grant and will allow the firm to provide surplus energy to the National Grid.
More at www.gmgenergy.co.uk
