More than 200,000 trees are to be planted in Central West NSW as part of a project to generate electricity using renewable fuel.
The trial will see native mallee eucalypt trees planted on 10 farms around Forbes.
They'll eventually be harvested and used as fuel at the Wallerawang Power Station near Lithgow.
It's the first stage of Delta Electricity's $250 million biomass co-firing project.
The company's chief executive, Jim Henness, says it could see renewable fuel replace almost a quarter of the coal used at Wallerawang.
"We can grow 1.2 million tonnes a year of biomass fuel through Mallee," he says.
"It will be taken by rail to Wallerawang after it's been turned into pellets in Forbes.
"That will reduce our coal consumption and CO2 emissions by one million tonnes a year, which is quite significant."
© 2010 ABC
