News - IEA Charleston Conference Summary and Site Visit Information

Gillian Alker and Keith Richards from TV Bioenergy Coppice and Sue Finlay from Defra attended the International Energy Agency (IEA) Task 30 - Short Rotation Crops annual task meeting in Charleston, South Carolina, USA between 7/11/04 and 10/11/04.

Country reports were presented by the task leaders from Sweden, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, UK (Keith Richards), Brazil and Croatia, providing an update of the activities carried out in each of these participating countries over the previous 12 months. Thirty four research papers were also presented from a wide variety of different countries in the following fields:

Production systems, pests and diseases
Phytoremediation/Environmental benefits
Genetics, breeding, physiology and wood properties
Bioenergy/Economics/Policy/Barriers to commercialization

TV Bioenergy Coppice presented a paper on the barriers to full-scale implementation of SRC systems in the last session. This presentation outlined the outcome of a report developed for the IEA, who identified the need for research into barriers to implementation in its assessment of High Priority Areas in 2001. The aim of the work was to help stimulate the international SRC industry by alerting stakeholders of the issues which have previously delayed the uptake of SRC in other countries, in order that lessons may be learned and experiences shared.

Some of the most relevant research papers to the activities of TV Bioenergy Coppice included:

Current and future status of short rotation woody crops in the northeast United States
T. A. Volk, E. Nordman, P. L. Abahamson, E. H. White and L. B. Smith.
This paper summarised the policy drivers which are leading to the development of willow SRC in New York State. These include the Conservation Reserve Programme (CRP) (similar to set-aside) and biomass tax credits of around 1.8 cents per kWh.

Recent experiences with willow biomass crops in New York
T. A. Volk, L. P. Abrahamson, L. B. Smart and E. H. White
This paper discussed the research work carried out by the State University of New York on SRC production systems since 1990. Breeding efforts have resulted in yield increases of 20-30%. Life cycle analyses quantified the energy and carbon balances. The use of cover crops to minimise weed competition and soil erosion and the use of SRC for phytoremediation, living snowfences and riparian buffer zones have also been investigated.

Economic Analysis of Short Rotation Poplar Crops in West Central Spain
F. Marco Martin, F. Garcia Robredo, S. Villegas Ortiz de la Torre
The paper explored very high density (36000 trees per hectare) plantations with very short rotations (2 years). Yields as high as 22 odt/ha/yr were reported.

Site Visits (9th November 2004)

The group visited an intensive Loblolly pine plantation where clonal trials are underway. This was followed by a presentation from the Santee Cooper Power Company, who described their use of biomass for co-firing in the local power station following hurricane Hugo.

We were shown around a culture density trial where bedding, weed control, planting density and location were all tested to improve the yields of loblolly pine.

Finally we were shown around the Department of Energy' Savannah River Experiment A site, where a series of experiments have been underway for some years to select species, varieties and sivicultural methods to improve biomass production from short rotation woody crops in South-East United States.