Power plant for vanguard project

Abstract

This paper summarises work on the assessment of the agro-industrial and economic factors affecting energy crops in South West England. There were five phases to the project:•Resource assessment•Powerplant economics•Agro-economic factors•Resource exploitation•Social and environmental factorswhich investigated two types of energy crops suitable for the region, short rotation coppice (SRC) and Miscanthus. The maximum estimated resource for SRC was 2.8 Mdte/y. The corresponding figure for Miscanthus was 4.5 Mdte/y. This resource was thought capable of supporting between 7 to 26 powerplants with a total capacity of 27.5–114.0 MW depending on the type of crop and its uptake. At generating prices of 7.5 p/kWh (Boilers+turbogenerators) and 8.5 p/kwh (gasifiers+spark ignition engines) powerplant operators could make acceptable internal rates of return with fuel prices of around £25.00–£27.50/dte at the farm gate. Under current agro-economic scenarios, both SRC and Miscanthus were not economically viable crops for farmers at a farm gate price of £27.50/dte. The resource is therefore not exploitable at present. Under a future agro-economic scenario where agronomy costs have been significantly reduced and yields increased, SRC would be economically viable only on set-a-side land at £27.50/dte. Whereas Miscanthus would be viable on set-a-side land at £25.00/dte and on non set-a-side land at £27.50/dte. Finally the cost effectiveness of energy crops as a CO2 abatement agent are examined and found to be a poor second to wind energy for South West England.