At harvest time, wood from short rotation coppices (SRC) has a high water content (w) between (52…58) % related to the mass (Attention: w = mass of water/mass of abscture drywood * 100 [%]; humidity (u) = mass of water/mass of the molstwood * 100 [%]; that means: w = 50% u = 100%). Additionally, many other kinds of wood for energetical use are as humid as that from SRC’s when they were picked up. Therefore, their incineration in small heat-stations or gasification in fixedbed- gasifiers is not permitted. The storage of such moist solid fuels without previous drying brings about high loss of mass and quality and causes a financial and energetic deficit. Against this background and the fact that harvesting SRC’s causes a lot of wood in a very short period of time, a procedural solution had to be found. A favorable solution to this problem is drying the wood chips in heaps by using ventilation with ambient air. To investigate this topic scientifically, necessary air flow rates, the progress of the drying process and the energetical requirements for the ventilation were determined in laboratory tests. It has been shown that the high air volume flow which is required to take the water away causes high air flow rates and consequently, high pressure losses. To minimize these losses it is necessary, that the wood chips have a rough structure and contain max. 3 % fine fractions <8 mm. Optionally, the chips from usual chippers or forage harvesters can be sieved before drying. But in terms of cost and process engineering, it is not lucrative and means extra effort. Therefore, scientists at the Technical University of Dresden developed a twostep- drum chipper with a second cutting stage beyond the main chipping drum. This machine produces large-scaled chips with few fine fractions, which can be dried quiet easily with low energetic and handling effort and can be used directly in small heat-stations or fixed-bed-gasifiers. Despite the slightly more elaborate construction, the device is more effective than usual chippers. This has been achieved by minimizing the power consumption of the chipping and cutting process and by using a completely new designed high efficient throwing wheel. Accordingly, with the same tractor performance a higher throughput can be reached.