Potential for willow cultivation and energy production in Finland. Charting the possibilities for producing energy from commercial willow plantations on arable lands in Finland

摘要

At the moment, the Finnish agricultural sector is undergoing a process of restructuring whereby traditional agricultural production will be reduced markedly. As a result, only one and a half of the two million hectares of fields can be kept in traditional agricultural use. One, at least partial, solution to the problem could be increased energy production on arable lands. The main purpose of this study was to define the total potential quantity of energy that could be produced on the set aside fields. Another aim was to determine how much imported nonrenewable fuels (oil/coal) could be replaced by willow biomass. The potential fields for willow cultivation were defined as those that remain uncultivated by the law in order to reduce agricultural production. In 1992 this area was about 427 000 ha within the region determined as the potential willow-growth area. The most likely users of willow biomass for fuel were determined to be the relatively small regional heating power stations that sell energy to nonindustrial consumers. There were 227 of this type of power stations within the investigated area. The results show that the energy production potential of the set aside fields in 1992 within the investigated region would have been enough to replace as much as 80 % (17 700 GWh) of both oil and coal requirement in the investigated heating power stations