A Spatially Explicit Evaluation of the Economic Performance of a Perennial Energy Crop on the Marginal Land of the Loess Plateau and China

The Loess Plateau, with a large area of marginal land, holds the potential to produce 62-106 Tg per year of switchgrass biomass; however, the economic feasibility of producing bioenergy in the region is unclear. The farm-gate feedstock production (FGFP) cost of switchgrass was calculated in a spatially explicit way by taking the geographic variation in crop yield, soil properties, land quality, and input costs into consideration in order to evaluate the economic performance of bioenergy production. Cost-supply curves were constructed to explore the energy supply potential of switchgrass feedstock. The calculations were conducted using ArcGIS in a 1 km grid and all the evaluations were conducted under different agricultural management practice (AMP) scenarios in parallel. The FGFP costs showed significant spatial variation ranging from 95 to 7373 CNY (Chinese Yuan) per tonne(-1) and that the most economically desirable areas are scattered in the south and southeast region. The weighted average FGFP costs are 710, 1125, and 1596 CNY per tonne(-1) for small bale (SB), large bale (LB), and chipping (CP) harvest methods, respectively. The projected energy supply potential is 1927 PJ (Petajoules) per year(-1), of which 30-93% can be supplied below the market prices of different fossil fuels according to feedstock formats. Compared to current biomass residual pricing, 50-66 Tg (Teragrams) switchgrass feedstock is competitive. The results demonstrated that the Loess Plateau holds the potential to produce bioenergy that is economically feasible. This study provides a methodological framework for spatially explicit evaluation of the economic performance of perennial energy crops. Detailed information obtained from this study can be used to select the optimal locations and AMPs to produce feedstock production at minimum cost.