Miscanthus yields and performances: energy and financial return
By Bical Biomasse France.
Conference support for the 4th Biomass meeting “What resources for the biofuels of tomorrow” organized by Valbiom.
Calculating the energy balance of Miscanthus
Incoming: 9,223 GJ / ha.an
Outgoing: 300,000 GJ / ha.an
The energy yield of miscanthus is therefore 300 / 9,223 = 32.57 or, if we can afford it, a “COPA” of 32,57 or a “productivity” of 3257%.
Order of comparison
This performance is compared to the yield of rapeseed or sunflower oil biofuels that are, at best, 3 to 5!
The yield of the biofuels retained by the current authorities, beet ethanol or corn (for example) is close to unity ... (corn is even lower: it takes more energy to produce a liter of ethanol than what this liter of ethanol contains) ...
Calculation of the return on investment
- Producer purchase price: 60 to 80 € / T at 20% max humidity and ensillé
- Productivity: 17 to 23 T / ha.year
- Charges per ha: around 360 € / year - depreciation included
Net margin per ha in the worst case: 60 * 17 - 360 = 660 € / ha.year
Net margin per ha in the best case: 80 * 23 - 360 = 1480 € / ha.year
Or an average of around 1000 € / ha.year
This is an interesting financial return given the fact that Miscanthus requires very little maintenance and that the price of energy can only go up in the future ...