There are three types of commercial supplier on the Biomass Suppliers List (BSL): Producer, Trader and Producer-Trader. All three are allowed to sell their fuel to a third party, however they do not have to. Further information on each supplier type can be found below. Please use the diagram under the “What supplier type are you?” tab on the left hand side to determine which supplier type best fits your situation.
Producer
A Producer is a person that produces biomass fuel from a raw material and sells this fuel onto a Trader. A Producer is not authorised to sell biomass directly to Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) participants.
A Producer can operate from one or more sites. These sites may be owned or operated by different legal entities so long as they are controlled by the Producer (e.g. subsidiary companies, majority interest etc).
Trader
A Trader is a person who buys biomass fuel and sells it to RHI participants and/or other Traders. A Trader may sell and deliver bulk fuel to Traders and/or RHI participants (either with their own equipment or via a service provider), or bag and sell the biomass fuel direct to end users. A Trader is not authorised to process raw materials to produce biomass fuel.
The individual selling points may be owned or operated by different legal entities (e.g. subsidiary companies, majority interest etc.) so long as the characteristics of the fuel are controlled by the Trader. The individual selling points do not have to have their own storage facilities or delivery trucks.
Producer-Trader
A Producer-Trader combines the role of Producer and Trader, i.e. a person who processes raw material into biomass fuel and either sells it to RHI participants or biomass Traders. Producer-Traders also covers suppliers who buy in a portion of their raw material and process it for use within their own biomass boilers.