How to make energy forests economically viable by tailoring their supply chain? Theoretical case study in Wallonia, Belgium
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- Energy forests in the form of Short Rotation Coppice (SRC) consist in cultivating a tree in the same way as a crop. They are useful to produce less polluting fuel as they are CO2 neutral when excluding the transport. SRC works by using growing tree species such as willow or poplar, cutting them every 2-6 years then repeating this process for up to 25 years. The product obtained is woodchips, which are used to produce energy. This practice is being used in countries such as Sweden where the government backed the plantation costs so that it became financially interesting for farmers to use this crop. To support this type of culture, a model, optimizing the harvest and transport of this crop in order to make it financially viable whilst keeping a coherence with its image as a non-fossil and CO2-free energy, is important. It is also important to bear in mind that the supply chain is the only CO2 emitter in the chain as the CO2 that is sequestered by the trees is released when transformed into energy.