Poultry producer Sean McPhillips, based in Newbliss, Co Monaghan, used to heat his three large broiler houses by oil and gas.

Last year, he installed a Dragon D50 biomass burner capable of taking a large square bale of straw. He now burns 8x4x4 bales of oilseed rape straw, which he buys at guaranteed moisture content of under 15%, at a price of approximately €100/t (this, incidentally, is a good outlet for oilseed rape straw, which has limited feed or bedding value).

The boiler heats a 43,000-litre storage tank of water. The heating system pumps the hot water to Big Dutchman heat exchange units in the three houses.

The sheds are approximately 250ft long (the equivalent of 16 hayshed bays) and 36ft wide. Temperature is closely controlled through the 42-day broiler production cycle. Young birds are kept at 35°C.

Temperature is then progressively lowered to 28°C as the birds reach finishing weight. The three houses hold 75,000 birds.

Sean told me that he burns three to four bales per day in windy weather and two to three in calmer weather. “Wind is worse than cold,” he said.

His previous heaters burned oil and gas within the houses, releasing moisture. Under the new system, the burner is external with heat transferred to the houses via water.

“It’s a dry heat. CO2 and humidity levels are lower. The birds are cleaner and healthier and litter is drier.”

The Dragon boiler and heating system were supplied and installed by Dermot Murphy, who operates as Dragon Heat Ltd, based in Palatine, Co Carlow.

He told me that the boiler has a rated output of 450kw. The steel buffer storage tank has 400mm of rockwool insulation. The parent company of Dragon is in the UK and has been manufacturing for 38 years.

The new system cost €150,000 including VAT, Sean said. His accountant has told him that the savings in heating costs will cover the outlay in five years.

Sean has now asked Dermot Murphy to upgrade further by installing an autofeed system, which will continuously feed the boiler with chopped straw.

This will increase burning efficiency and give a constant temperature. According to Dragon Heat, it will increase the energy take from 1t of straw from 3,800kw to 5,100kw, or by 33%.

An autofeeder could allow him to use alternate fuels, such as woodchips.

The upgrade will cost up to €30,000.