Juha Laitila, Jani Heikkilä, Perttu Anttila. (2010). Harvesting alternatives, accumulation and procurement cost of small-diameter thinning wood for fuel in Central Finland. Silva Fennica vol. 44 no. 3 article id 143. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.143

Keywords: biomass resources; multi-tree-handling; delimbed stemwood; whole trees; Finland; early thinnings; forest chips

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This study compared harvesting alternatives, accumulation and procurement costs of small-diameter thinning wood chips for fuel, when trees were harvested either as delimbed stemwood or whole trees. The calculation was made for a hypothetical plant located in Central Finland and the radius of the procurement area was 100 km via the existing road network. Cutting was done with conventional harvester head equipped with multi-tree-handling (MTH) accessories, with the logged trees being chipped at the roadside storage. The cost of delimbed stemwood chips at heating plant was 24% higher compared to the cost of whole tree chips. The availability analysis attested that delimbing lowered the regional cutting removal by 42% compared to the whole tree harvesting, when the minimum accumulation for the fuel fraction at the stand was set at 25 m³/ha. Delimbing diminishes the recovery rate at the site, resulting in a diminishing number of potential recovery sites meeting the threshold volume. However, the study showed that the forest energy potential is increased and procurement costs are reduced, if delimbed stemwood is harvested from stands where the whole tree harvesting is not acceptable due to nutrient loss or for other ecological reasons. Intelligent selection of cutting methods for different stands enables minimization of transport distance and control of procurement cost.

Laitila, The Finnish Forest Research Institute, Joensuu, Finland E-mail: juha.laitila@metla.fi
Heikkilä, L&T Biowatti Oy, Seinäjoki, Finland E-mail: jh@nn.fi
Anttila, The Finnish Forest Research Institute, Joensuu, Finland E-mail: pa@nn.fi

article id 220, category Research article

Jani Heikkilä, Matti Sirén, Anssi Ahtikoski, Jari Hynynen, Tiina Sauvula, Mika Lehtonen. (2009). Energy wood thinning as a part of stand management of Scots pine and Norway spruce. Silva Fennica vol. 43 no. 1 article id 220. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.220

Keywords: energy wood thinning; stand management; MOTTI simulator

Abstract | View details | Full text in PDF | Author Info

The effects of combined production of industrial and energy wood on yield and harvesting incomes, as well as the feasibility of energy wood procurement, were studied. Data for 22 Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) and 21 Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) juvenile stands in Central and Southern Finland were used to compare six combined production regimes to conventional industrial wood production. The study was based on simulations made by the MOTTI stand simulator, which produces growth predictions for alternative management regimes under various site and climatic conditions. The combined production regimes included precommercial thinning at 4–8 m dominant height to a density of 3000–4000 stems ha^–1 and energy wood harvesting at 8, 10 or 12 m dominant height. Combined production did not decrease the total yield of industrial wood during the rotation period. Differences in the mean annual increment (MAI) were small, and the rotation periods varied only slightly between the alternatives. Combined production regime can be feasible for a forest owner if the price of energy wood is 3–5 EUR m^–3 in pine stands, and 8–9 EUR m^–3 in spruce stands. Energy wood procurement was not economically viable at the current energy price (12 EUR MWh^–1) without state subsidies. Without subsidies a 15 EUR MWh^–1 energy price would be needed. Our results imply that the combined production of industrial and energy wood could be a feasible stand management alternative.

Heikkilä, L&T Biowatti Oy, P.O. Box 738, FI-60101 Seinäjoki, Finland E-mail: jani.heikkila@biowatti.fi
Sirén, Finnish Forest Research Institute, Vantaa Research Unit, P.O.Box 18, FI-01301 Vantaa, Finland E-mail: ms@nn.fi
Ahtikoski, Finnish Forest Research Institute, Rovaniemi Research Unit, P.O.Box 16, FI-96301 Rovaniemi, Finland E-mail: aa@nn.fi
Hynynen, Finnish Forest Research Institute, Vantaa Research Unit, P.O.Box 18, FI-01301 Vantaa, Finland E-mail: jh@nn.fi
Sauvula, Seinäjoki University of Applied Sciences, School of Agriculture and Forestry, Tuomarniementie 55, FI-63700 Ähtäri, Finland E-mail: ts@nn.fi
Lehtonen, Finnish Forest Research Institute, Vantaa Research Unit, P.O.Box 18, FI-01301 Vantaa, Finland E-mail: ml@nn.fi

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