Animals, plants and visitors will all be staying toasty and warm at Colchester Zoo this winter thanks to a new 199kW Hargassner Green Heat Module from industry leading biomass experts, Wood Energy.

Founded in 1963, Colchester Zoo now houses over 260 species and attracts around 850,000 visitors each year, leading to considerable energy costs. To help address this, the Zoo chose to have a new Hargassner biomass boiler from Wood Energy installed by Bentley Fire Shop, supplying heat and hot water to a number of animal enclosures including the ever popular Lions and the new Australian Rainbows exhibit, which recreates a tropical rainforest complete with parakeets.

With internal space limited, the Zoo needed a reliable, external solution. This made Wood Energy’s Green Heat Module the ideal choice. The fully containerised unit is pre-packaged off-site and is supported with a Total Warranty covering the coating, structure, insulation and boiler for the entire 20 year payout period of the Renewable Heat Incentive. The Module incorporates a wood store and was selected with a 199kW wood pellet boiler from Hargassner, exclusively distributed in the UK by Wood Energy. The top of the range model features a fully factory-lined combustion chamber, automatic ash level indication and a lambda sensor with fuel quality detection.

Once on site Wood Energy Registered Installers Bentley Fire Stop were able to quickly fit the Green Heat Module to the distribution system via a single flow and return connection. Installation speed was a key consideration as Gordon Bennett, managing director of Bentley Fire Shop explained: "By utilising the Green Heat Module, installation of the equipment is far quicker and reduces the downtime to the customer."