Frustrated by high oil prices, Tim Halliday of driftwood Greenhouses switched to wood boilers in 2006 and then to a Heizomat automated wood chip system in 2020.

Winter 2023, his annual savings were about $175,000 (81%) over oil ($1.61/litre and $92,500 (69%) over propane ($0.65/ litre) and $32,000 (44%) over his old wood boilers ($150/cord).

Due to rising fuel costs, the project payback ended up being less than the 3 year goal (even with the new boiler room).

We find the typical payback is 4-6 years.

The 1.7M BTU/hr (500kW) Heizomat boiler, heats 24,600 ft2 of greenhouse (just over half an acre) and uses about 28 loads or 364 tonnes of wood chip a year.  At $115/tonne his annual heating cost is around $42,000.