Willow Cultivation as Feedstock for Bioenergy-External Production Cost

Abstract

Biomass remains one of the most important materials for the production of renewable energy in the European Union. Willow can be one of the sources of biomass, and its production can also be profitable on soils with low quality. A proper selection of raw material for energy production should be based not only on the cost effectiveness or crop yield, but also on the environmental impact and the cost it incurs. The aim of this work was to evaluate the external environmental costs of the production of willow chips of seven willow genotypes, produced for energy generation on marginal cropping lands. The environmental external costs of chips production were estimated against the amount of emissions calculated according to the LCA method (ReCiPe Midpoint) and its monetary value. The external environmental cost of willow chips production amounted to €212 ha−1 year−1, which constituted 23% of the total production cost of willow chips. The external cost of production of 1 Mg d.m. of willow chips for the best yielding variety averaged €21.5, which corresponded to 27% of the total production cost. The research demonstrated that a proper selection of an optimal variety may lead to the reduction of the external cost.

Keywords

• externalities
• economic analysis
• willow biomass production
• new varieties
• sustainable production