Evaluation of the Efficiency of Planting an Energy Plantation of Fast-Growing Trees

The topic of the research is based on the possibility of using land that does not meet the conditions for growing crops for the food industry to plant an energy plantation.The aim of the paper is to create and evaluate the investment plan for the establishment of an energy plantation of fast-growing willow using model technology.The model is constructed in an Excel spreadsheet and is quantified with data from similarly implemented projects as well as from other available sources.Using the net present value (NPV) criterion, the deterministic efficiencies of individual variants of investment plans are compared in the conditions of a 5 and a 4-year harvesting cycle with the purchase of a wood chipper and the sale of final wood chips and without the purchase of a wood chipper and the sale of wood for further processing.Based on the obtained results, we can conclude that with a 5-year wood harvesting cycle, 40% share of the subsidy and 20% share of equity in the costs of establishing a stand and purchasing a chipper, the investment plan in the scope of 20 ha is effective with an NPV value of 6 453.In the case subsidies fell below 32%, it would be ineffective.A similar project in the scope of 10 ha would be effective with subsidies of more than 66%, while the scope of 5 ha with more than 89% of subsidies.Without the possibility of subsidies, the project is successful only with an area of 33 ha and with high loans not only for the establishment of a stand and the purchase of a chipper, but also for bridging loans -a total loan of 184 412.Better results would be achieved with a 4-year wood harvesting cycle, where without subsidies it is sufficient 23 ha of cultivation areas.For 20 ha, subsidies are necessary at least about 8%, while for 10 ha at least 52% would be needed and for 5 ha 80%.In the case of variants without the purchase of a woodchipper with a 5-year wood harvesting cycle, 40% shares of subsidy and 20% shares of equity in terms of the costs of establishing a stand, an investment plan with 5 ha of land with an NPV value of 623 is already effective.Without the possibility of subsidies, at least 7 ha of cultivation areas with a total loan of 23 025.In the case of a 4-year cycle, the minimum area is 4 ha in order for the project to be effective without subsidies with an NPV value of 322.