By Alaina Potrikus / The Post-Standard
March 10, 2010, 8:12PM
Syracuse, NY -- Available land and amenable farmers make Central New York a prime location for biomass fuel production, says a study released Wednesday.
But the renewable energy source would likely need the help of government subsidies to compete with fossil fuels in the short run, research by Cato Analytics suggests. And although the land is available and farmers are willing, the market is not ready for the crop, according to the study, funded in part by the New York Farm Viability Institute.
Researchers contacted landowners who owned more than 10 acres of property within a 25-mile radius of Morrisville last fall to determine the level of interest in growing energy crops to diversify their farming operations and overall land usage.
Previous studies have extolled local soils as prime growing conditions for energy crops such as switchgrass and willow. But researchers wanted to get a sense of how much land was in play by talking to farmers about what returns they would need to achieve to consider biomass fuel production.
The results indicated that one-third of the agricultural land in the study area — or more than 100,000 acres — is currently idle. “There is a lot of land out there that could be producing biomass without crippling the dairy industry or a farmer’s field crops,” said Dan Conable of Cato Analytics.
Researchers asked participants to figure how much money they would have to invest to farm the idle land and how long it would take to turn a profit. “We didn’t think it would be helpful to this process to lowball the numbers,” Conable said. “We wanted to be realistic.”
Two years ago, it cost less to produce biomass energy than more conventional forms. But as prices of other fuels fell, that changed. Several factors could make biomass energy more attractive again.
A new federal program aims to encourage the biomass industry by covering 75 percent of the establishment costs and providing subsidies for collection, harvesting, storage and transportation.
Conable said the development of new breeds of grasses that deliver higher energy yields could also change the market value. New federal policies designed to decrease the country’s reliance on fossil fuels and address global warming could also make it more expensive to use fossil fuels and push the market toward renewable resources.
The just-released research is expected to help developers considering local projects — including colleges, hospitals and industrial plants. Such projects would require upfront investment in infrastructure expected to pay for itself in energy cost savings.
Movement toward biomass use is already picking up some momentum. Last month, officials at the Griffiss Business and Technology Park in Rome announced plans to build a $35 million power plant to be fueled by biomass that’s expected to save $1.5 million a year in utility costs. Colgate University already derives the majority of its energy from burning wood chips. And Morrisville State College is studying whether to use a biomass-based system.
