Potential costs of four short-rotation silvicultural regimes used for the production of energy

A simple model is used to estimate the potential costs of production of four cultivation regimes that can be used to produce biomass for energy in central Chile. The selected cultivation regimes represent different silvicultural intensities and use Populus, Salix, Pinus and Eucalyptus genders. The model considers that the potential cost of production is explained by a cost of cultivation, a cost of harvest and a cost of soil use. It accounts for the different yields expected in each site and the energetic value of the biomass obtained. Sites of minimum potential costs for each cultivation regime are identified. The results obtained show that non-intensive silvicultural regimes using Eucalyptus and Pinus are associated to considerably lower minimum potential costs of production (0.04–0.06 UFGJ−1 HHV)1 than intensive silvicultural regimes that use Salix and Populus (0.12–0.14 UFGJ−1 HHV). It was also found that to obtain the lowest production cost in non-intensive silviculture, it is preferable to use sites of high productivity although their cost of use is higher.