Efforts to boost production of renewable energy in Germany means the amount of land used to generate power and heat from corn, solar panels and wind turbines will more than double by 2020.
Almost 4 million hectares will be needed for growing biofuel crops and operating windmills and solar parks within 10 years, according to data provided by Germany’s renewable energy agency. That compares with 1.77 million hectares used for renewable energy now in a country of 35.7 million hectares.
Germany may be able to generate about half of its electricity using renewable sources at the end of the decade, the industry estimates. Most of the land will be used to grow crops such as corn, sugar beets and rapeseed for products including biodiesel, ethanol and biogas that are used in transportation fuels and electric production, the agency said.
“Critical for all this to work is to make sure that bioenergy is integrated into the overall energy system,” said Daniela Thraen, director of the German Biomass Research Center in Leipzig.
Fuels from distilling and converting plant material should be integrated into existing infrastructure such as natural gas pipelines, Thraen said. Bioenergy has the potential to provide as much as 15 percent of the country’s energy needs, she added.
Much of the terrain used for the expected increase in renewable energy will be under-utilized agricultural, military or industrial land, the lobby group said.
Rising demand for fuels made from corn and other crops may contribute to increases of as much as 72 percent in food prices by 2020, the Washington-based International Food Policy Research Institute has estimated.
Copyright 2010 Bloomberg L.P.
