09/08 - 08/11

• Hochschule für Forstwirtschaft Rottenburg (HFR)
• Institut Nationale de la Recherche Agronomique INRA Nancy
• Institut Nationale de la Recherche Agronomique INRA Orleans
• UNIQUE forestry consultants GmbH
• Forstliche Versuchs- und Forschungsanstalt Baden-Württemberg (FVA)
• Institut für Energiewirtschaft und Rationelle Energieanwendung - Universität Stuttgart (IER)
• Nine international commercial partners from all components of the value chain "short rotation"

Besides the large potentials and opportunities, the establishment and cultivation of SRC is connected with several constraints and barriers - especially in the economics of the plantations. Economic competitiveness is one of the main obstacles for a wider use of biomass from SRC. Up to now profits from SRC-production are comparably low, especially on a per hectare base. Costs of plant material production are still too high, yield needs to be raised by plant breeding and optimization of species-site matching on a regional scale, harvesting and transport costs are high due to non-existence of SRC markets and low utilization ratios of machinery. At present, most of the research results available have been obtained for medium to good sites and the presumptions of a large field size for the SRC-plantations. There are several reasons, that these conditions can be rarely found in many regions of Central Europe, where South-West Germany and North-East France are examples. The project, therefore, will focus on less favourable conditions with small field sizes at scattered locations and on unfavourable sites and terrains.

The main objective is the successful implementation of cost-efficient and consumer-oriented SRC-value-chains through new business concepts and in regions, where small field sizes and unfavourable sites and terrain prevail. To reach the overall objective, the proposed research project covers all process steps of the SRC-value chain and is structured in 5 work packages:

• WP1: Cost optimization through site adapted plantation management. (INRA)
• WP2: Improvement of harvesting systems and transport logistics related to specific site conditions. (FVA)
• WP3: Value added conditioning of SRC raw material regarding end product key-properties under consideration of different site conditions and field-sizes. (HFR)
• WP4: The economics of SRC-value chains and optimization strategies with respect to site location and dimension. (IER)
• WP5: New business concepts for successful implementation of a product-oriented wood fuel value chain from SRC. (INRA & Unique)

Main result is the development of strategies allowing a major cost reduction and a higher efficiency even for areas in Central Europe, which are characterized by less favourable conditions for SRC-production. This shall be achieved by an innovative approach to initialise intensive and early cooperation between producers and consumers - on the one hand - and to concentrate the SRC-production inside these co-operations to the requirements of industrial consumers. Based on the known value chain structures all major processes like the production (species-site matching, spacing, rotation), harvest, logistics and conditioning of SRC-products are streamlined.

The results will be implemented directly in the course of the project through the establishment of pilot-co-operatives of SRC-producers and industrial consumers. These co-operations can be seen as show-cases for new efficient strategies fostering a wider implementation of SRC.