Why grow energy crops?

The market for energy crops, which are grown specifically to be harvested and burnt in power stations, combined heat and power (CHP) units or heating systems is increasing.  This is in response to several power and heat projects being investigated and soon expected to be built across New Zealand which utilise biomass, including energy crops.  One such crop is Miscanthus.

Miscanthus can be used to produce heat, CHP or electricity power on a range of scales from large power stations (30 MW+) requiring hundreds of thousands of tonnes of biomass annually, to small-scale systems (on-farm or single building) requiring just a few dozen tonnes during winter months.