Troy school converts heating to pellets

By STEVE KADEL Western News Reporter

Morrison Elementary School will experiment with a cleaner burning, less expensive heating source through a federally-sponsored project.

The Troy school has primarily used heating fuel in the past, but will switch to wood pellet heat next fall. The conversion is anticipated to save slightly more than $750,000 over the next 30 years, said Troy School District Superintendent Brady Selle.

A grant from the U.S. Forest Service, administered through the state Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, will pay half of the $235,000 wood pellet system cost. The school district will take out a 10-year loan to pay the remainder.

"We are a demonstration project," Selle said. "The DNRC wants to prove it can be efficient."

It will make Morrison Elementary the first Montana school to use a pellet burning system.

The old fuel oil boiler will be used only as a backup heat source in especially cold weather, Selle added. The goal is to cut fuel oil consumption from the current 6,700 gallons per year to no more than 670 gallons.

Between 60 and 70 tons of pellets will be burned annually. The grant requires that half the amount be purchased from a supplier participating in the state fuels reduction program, in which slash pile debris is used to manufacture pellets.

The district will see an overall savings of $6,000 in the first year, according to projections. That factors in the annual loan payment of about $7,500.

Estimated savings increase to a total of $93,700 by year 10, when the loan will be paid off.

However, there's another benefit to the new system.

"It burns all the gasses so we will have better air quality than with our present system," Selle said. "It burns at such a high level, re-circulates the particulate and burns that again."

Twenty to 30 tons of pellets will be stored at a time in a silo at the school. Selle said he hopes the program can eventually be expanded to Troy High School.

Recently retired Resource Conservation and Development coordinator Greg Larson helped write the grant application.

Besides Libby High School, others that have expressed interest in converting their heating systems include Flathead Valley Community College and Eureka public schools, according to the Northwest Regional Resource Conservation and Development Council.

The new Kalispell high school is slated to receive a $240,000 state loan to help fund a biomass wood chip project anticipated to cost $480,000.