Richard Bennett; Amir Abadi; Kevin Goss

Transformational adaptation for the wheatbelt: energy tree cropping

Australian mallee system

Mallee system 1 - production

Belts of coppicing, drought tolerant trees

•Integration with dominant grain, meat and wool enterprises

•Coppicing trees allow regular and repeated harvests (3-5yrs)

Contractors harvest and transport wood biomass

• harvesting & chipping at >60 T/h

• economic transport distance ~50 km

Photo of harvester prototype in action

Mallee system 2 – harvest/transp.

Biomass processing centres• renewable energy• fuel• char • oil

Mallee system 3 - processing

Energy source that is:• C neutral to C positive • Base-load – complements wind and solar

The path to an industry

A viable industry before 2025

Generating 176MW

Offsetting 9.1 Mt CO2-e

The path to an industry

The path to an industry-- cost of supply --

The path to an industry-- cost of supply --

The path to an industry-- cost of supply --

The path to an industry-- cost of supply --

The path to an industry-- cost of supply --

The path to an industry-- cost of supply --

The path to an industry-- cost of supply --

The path to an industry-- scale of demand --

The path to an industry-- scale of demand --

The path to an industry-- scale of demand --

Challenges to industry development

Cost of harvest and haulage largest hurdle–Prototype harvesters under development

– Initial cost biomass cost offsets?

Ongoing sustainability considerations

– early reliance on stored soil moisture / nutrients

– productivity decline long-term

– Net C balance of roots

Transforming agriculture Environmental benefits to farms and regions

• Provide salinity and biodiversity benefits

• Smart belt placement can improve water and nutrient balances

• Neutral or positive carbon balance

• Viable industry will displace fossil fuels emissions to 1.3 MT CO2-e / year

Transforming agriculture Economic benefits to farmers

• Improved animal welfare – shelter from elements

• Diversify farm incomes – complement existing

agriculture

• Maintains cash flow – regular harvests

• Stability of yield – lower year on year risk

• Higher total productivity – use of excess resources

Transforming agriculture Economic benefits to regions

• New regional industries – harvesting, transporting

and processing

• Provide local base-load power to regional areas

reducing transmission losses

• Improved energy security

• Mallees for bioenergy will be strategically important

for Australia's renewable energy future

Key references

• Future Farm Industries CRC (2010) Energy Tree Crops: Renewable energy from biomass could be the driver to large scale adoption of woody crops and to structural improvement to dryland agricultural systems in Australia

• Bartle, J. Abadi, A. (2010) Toward Sustainable Production of Second Generation Bioenergy Feedstocks. Energy Fuels 24, 2–9.

International perspective

Int. Energy Agency projections:

33% market share for bioenergy by 2050

Au:

0.7% total electricity, 0.45% transport fuels

Global:

10% total energy (5% wood heating)

Finland:

23% primary energy

75% thermal energy

Sweden:

32% total energy – exceeding oil in 2009

Transforming agriculture Economic benefits to farmers

Bartle & Abadi (2010) - undiscounted cash flow per ha

15

10

5

0

Years

$ ,000/ha

1 20 30 40 50

The path to an industry-- scale of demand --

The path to an industry-- scale of demand --

Equivalent to ~2 million (~15 %) of today’s cars

off the road for 1 yr

Or ~3% of cars off the road every year