Ever increasing energy prices are directing attention to energy crops. At the Teagasc Biofuels Open Day in Oak Park Carlow today, Thursday 25 May, research on a range of crops that are nearest to commercial exploitation as energy sources, was on display.

The Head of Teagasc Crops Research Centre Professor Jimmy Burke said: “A steady increase in biomass and biofuel use for energy production would help to improve national fuel security.  If profitability problems can be overcome, growing energy crops could benefit farmers and the industry.”

He said: “The 2006 budget announced excise relief on 156 million litres of transport biofuels, the amount needed to achieve a 2% substitution of mineral fuels. The 2% target for petrol could be met by 70 million litres of ethanol, which could be produced from about 15,000 ha of beet or 23,000 ha of cereals. We now understand that the rate of excise relief for ethanol will be €0.368/litre. This is a very important initiative which will lead to developments in the liquid biofuels area.”

Regarding biomass crops such as willow or miscanthus, Professor Burke said: “We need to promote the development of supply chains to assure the end users of supply security and fuel quality. Profitability will have to improve especially if energy crops are to be widely grown. This could be done through the introduction of an ‘Establishment Grant Scheme’ to partly offset the very high cost of establishing energy crops such as willow or miscanthus.”

As a perennial crop with high establishment costs, planting willow or miscanthus needs very careful evaluation before proceeding. One hectare of miscanthus costs approximately €2,800 to establish, while a crop of willow costs approximately  €2,400 per hectare to establish.

He said: “With diminishing options for organic waste disposal, this use could become attractive to both the waste producer and the grower of energy crops and greatly impact on the economics of the whole operation.”

Professor Burke said: “Intensive local expansion, for example the number of midland power stations currently burning peat, would create the demand and allow the creation of a guaranteed supply chain at agreed prices.”

In this scenario Teagasc estimates that biomass can compete profitability with other competing stocks. But it warned that the policy framework needed for this to happen is still not in place and needs to be addressed.

Farmers attending the open day saw two 100kw boilers being used to heat buildings. One was designed to use wood chips and pellets, while the other newly-installed boiler is adapted to use non-wood fuels such as miscanthus.