A BIOMASS heating company is predicting up to 40% growth this year following the introduction of a Government backed payment scheme.

HWEnergy was the first business in Scotland to sign up for the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) and has doubled the size of its workforce in anticipation of a major increase in trade.

The RHI scheme opened in November and gives non-domestic properties using renewable technologies, such as ground-source heat pumps and wood-chip boilers, payments of up to 8.5 pence for each kilowatt hour produced over a 20-year period.

HWEnergy is predicting a rise in income as more businesses and public sector organisations learn about the incentive and want to install biomass systems.

As a result the company has scaled up to 40 people in the past 12 months and is projecting a jump in turnover from around £3.8 million to £5.5m.

Managing director Bruno Berardelli said: "Us getting the RHI Renewable Heat Incentive shows that it is a real thing. When the letter came through saying we were accredited and would be receiving payments until 2032, we put that out on an email.

"Things just went a bit daft with so many people phoning up and putting it out on Twitter.

"So now people know the Renewable Heat Incentive is here it makes projects more viable. It's harder to scale up for biomass as the projects can be quite complicated as there is civil, electrical and mechanical engineering plus the design, servicing and fuel.

"We felt last year was our chance to get ready for RHI so we scaled up systems, training and investment. As we scaled up expecting an increase in work, we have a lot of capacity although I can see us increasing again if the demand is what we expect."

The company believes the biomass boiler at its Fort William headquarters will save 50 tonnes of carbon each year as well as providing an income through RHI.

It applied for the RHI on December 6 last year and expects to receive the first payments under the scheme in March.

Now it is working across Scotland on a variety of projects with customers ranging from monasteries and country estates to schools and medical centres.

Mr Berardelli added: "We have built up a service team covering the country and on any given day we can be working on jobs from Shetland to the Borders.

"Most of our work is done in partnership. We give the client a business case then take them right through the other end to heat generation.

"It is interesting for Scotland. We can use the timber resources we have and generate this high-value heat.

"It is a tremendous opportunity for our clients to receive a long-term financial incentive for using a renewable heating fuel we can produce in our own country."