Clemson partners to sell switchgrass in Europe

SCBIZ Daily
April 29, 2009

Researchers at Clemson University’s Pee Dee Research and Education Center have announced an initiative with Charleston-based Carolina-Pacific LLC to supply switchgrass to European power plants as a substitute for coal in electricity generation.

The initiative is worth more than $20 million a year to S.C. farmers during the next decade, company officials said. Carolina-Pacific will need more than 350,000 tons of switchgrass annually for its European markets, beginning in 2012.

To meet the demand, about 10,000 acres of switchgrass will be planted in South Carolina beginning in 2010, with the total rising to 60,000 in the coming years. One acre of switchgrass yields about 6 metric tons.

Clemson agronomist James Frederick, who studies the science and technology of utilizing plants for food, fuel and other applications, said the Carolina-Pacific initiative will benefit S.C. farmers and rural communities along the Interstate 95 corridor.

“Wide-scale switchgrass production will help fill the economic losses created by the decline in markets for the region’s traditional crops, such as cotton, tobacco and ornamental grass,” Frederick said.

Carolina-Pacific will pay farmers for their crops, and Clemson researchers will assist in teaching them how to plant crops and make the most from their fields.

Switchgrass is a native, perennial, drought-tolerant crop that has a high biomass yield and is environmentally friendly to produce. Historically, switchgrass has been used as a hay and silage crop and has been planted occasionally for wildlife habitats. More recently, the crop has taken on a new role.

“Switchgrass is proving to be a well-adapted crop to the dry soils of South Carolina and one for which there appears to be a rapidly growing green energy market,” Frederick said.

Demand for switchgrass is expected to continue to rise with the increased use of biomass crops in European utility markets, said Carolina-Pacific CEO John B. Kern.

Further demand is expected in domestic utility markets and in the production of cellulosic ethanol. The S.C. acreage needed to meet the demand identified by Carolina-Pacific will be nearly three times that used for tobacco in the state, Kern said.

“The 21st century is the century for switchgrass,” he said. “We need to develop acre after acre after acre.”

Clemson officials made the announcement during the 2009 Rural Heritage Celebration at the Pee Dee center’s Outdoor Education Trail.

The annual outdoor event featured South Carolina’s home-grown foods, exhibits on how the state’s rural heritage was shaped and displays on renewable energy.

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