Increased Farmer Interest in Energy Crops

The developing Bioenergy market and attractive grant schemes are encouraging farmers to plant more of their land with specialist energy crops to produce biomass.

Speaking at Bioenergy 07, which took place at Oak Park, Carlow, today, Thursday, 30 August, Teagasc energy crop specialist Barry Caslin said, “While some land owners are still assessing the potential to grow energy crops, and are attending events like Bioenergy 07 to gather more information, many have already acted and this is reflected in the increased plantings of miscanthus, willow and oilseed rape in the last year.”

At Bioenergy 07, which was jointly organised by COFORD, Sustainable Energy Ireland and Teagasc, Barry Caslin pointed out that the area of willow and miscanthus grown in Ireland has increased from 300 hectares in 2006, to 1100 hectares this year.  The area of oilseed rape, which is used to produce liquid biofuel, is up from 4000 hectares to 6000 hectares harvested in 2007.

Standing crops of both willow and miscanthus grown at Oak Park were viewed by the large attendance at Bioenergy 07.  Machinery to process the crops into fuel were demonstrated while an extensive range of stoves and boilers which can use these fuels to produce heat were also on display.

Around 90% of Ireland’s energy is generated from imported fuel, which is higher than the EU average of 50%.  It’s expected that indigenously produced biomass has the potential to meet up to 10% of Ireland’s fuel needs by 2020.