School's biomass boiler is a budget boon

If the biomass boiler at Glacier High School keeps running as smoothly as it has in recent months, Kalispell Public Schools’ energy bill could be about $58,200 lower than it was last year.

If the boiler continues to run without a glitch, Glacier High’s heating costs will be about $53,000 this year. Last year, the district spent about $111,200 to heat Glacier using the biomass boiler and natural gas, according to figures from the district’s central office.

The district budgeted $124,110 for energy expenses at Glacier this year.

So far this year, Glacier High has used less natural gas than it did during the same period last year. Through mid-December 2009, Glacier High’s natural gas bill totaled about $9,800.

By mid-December 2008, Glacier’s natural gas bill was about $49,800. By mid-December 2007, the first six months of the boiler’s operation, the gas bill was $26,100.

The difference is a biomass boiler that is operating with fewer malfunctions this year, which has meant the school has relied less on natural gas for heat.

Facilities and transportation director Chuck Cassidy attributes the boiler’s success to a retrofit completed in fall 2008 and a change in the boiler’s fuel.

“That combination has really given us a good run since we’ve turned it on,” he said.

For its first two years of operation, the boiler ran on hog fuel — shredded and ground wood and bark fibers. The boiler’s conveyance system was ill-equipped to handle the fuel, and frequent problems forced Glacier to rely on natural gas heat.

Last year’s $167,000 retrofit helped the boiler better handle hog fuel.

“The retrofit made it a more robust system, less prone to being bogged down,” Cassidy said.

When the 2009-10 school year began, the district also switched to wood chips, a fuel that previously was too expensive for Kalispell’s budget. Kalispell vendor John Jump Trucking is supplying the chips “at a pretty good market rate,” Cassidy said.

Facilities employees have continued to make adjustments on the boiler, Cassidy added, which has helped the system run more smoothly this year than ever before.

Reporter Kristi Albertson may be reached at 758-4438 or by e-mail at kalbertson@dailyinterlake.com