Henderson Valley School
The 150kW underfed grate Binder boiler is fuelled by woodchips from a pallet manufacturer in Auckland. Travelling just 15km from source to boiler, this wood fuel was previously a waste product, but now provides low-cost and low-carbon heating for the school during the winter months.
Henderson Valley School is located in the tightly-regulated airshed of Greater Auckland Council, and previously encountered significant local air pollution issues from its valley location. The old coal boiler, which leaked so much smoke from its various doors and seals that the boilerhouse skylight was used as a secondary chimney, was ripped out during the summer of 2008/09. High-efficiency combustion and a flue cyclone mean that the replacement Binder system produces a fraction of the air emissions of the old coal boiler, with smoke only visible for a short time on startup