Forest and Biomass Services Belgium Paul Bertaux

1. Who are we ? 2. What are we doing ?

3. What are we learning ? 4. Some pictures

Biomass Crops in Romania (Poplar, etc. …)

Who are we ? Investment Fund aiming at consolidating forest and arable land ‘Cluster Model’ : 15-20,000ha of Farms + Forests in a radius of 150km Deploying multi-purposes biomass plantation in Central Europe

(bio-products, bio-refineries, green chemistry, bio-energy) Building long term supply agreements with industries Currently managing + 10,000 ha in W-Romania

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Timber Products

Food Products

Farms

Forests Forest Biomass

Biomass Crops

Our approach with Biomass crop deployment Two steps :

1. Biomass trial platform : set up from 2013 onward 2. Industrial deployment of biomass plantation : from 2014 onward

Structure of the Trial platform (50ha) : parameters under analysis

Two schemes : 1. “Experimental” plots (Poplar & Willow, 3 blocks, 2 sites) for :

Varieties trial : commercial and experimental varieties Density (clinal design) X Fertilization trial (3 levels) X 3 Clones X 2 Species

2. “Regular” plots : 0.2 to >1 ha variety plot in 5 sites at various spacing 3

• Species • Varieties

(commercial & experimental)

G x E x C Genotype Environment Cultivation Process (Growth Factors) • Land preparation

• Planting technology (3 machines, 1 full manual)

• Density/spacing • Fertilization level • Rotation Length

• Continental Climate • Soils & Water status • Full plantation and

Agroforestry scheme

10 Species +100 varieties Poplar Willow Paulownia Miscanthus Arundo ‘Szarvas’ Sorghum Camelina Corn Sunflower

Bringing NW & SW-European and U.S. Vegetal Material to Central Europe

What are we learning ? Favorable growth factors :

Climate : annual sunlight hours, vegetation period length, annual rainfall, … Soils (Tchernozem) : depth, water reserve, water table (1 to 1,5m), high CEC, … but aggressive conditions (for the 1st year) : high T°, drought/flood fluctuation, clayey soils with

strong dry/wet ‘behavior’ (‘Minute Soils’ : narrow operational window)

Initial observations and outcomes : Complexity of early interpretation due to many parameters not yet settled :

Varieties X Site X Weather@Planting X Land prep. X Planting procedure X … First conclusions are coming out at Species level Strong clonal effect from varieties bred/selected in different growth conditions

(ie. maritime climate, lighter soils, …) Specific cultivation processes are being designed for present industrial deployment Agroforestry : favorable synergies expected between biomass & food crops (sun, protection)

Deployment timing issues : Need several years of measures / observations before getting ‘hard’ and reliable conclusion Need a strong interaction between R&D Industrial Deployment

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Economic Prospective of Biomass production

From Early Movers (now) : high IRR expectation from investor (risk, infant sector) Sub-optimal plantation performance (genotype / cultivation process to be fit with local

growth conditions), harvesting/supply chain technologies and costs Land must be cheap now for the biomass-energy to be competitive (with natural gas)

To Sector Maturity (in 10-20 years ?) : Lower IRR expectation (controlled risk, biomass industries network, …) Optimized productivity and costs

Biomass always competitive (natural gas , coal) whatever the land price is (incl. W-Europe) 6

Early Movers

Sector Maturity

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Land preparation Experimental plot planting Testing 3 planting machines

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Willow & Poplar cuttings of 3-4 month old Poplar rods rooting

Agroforestry • Rods plantation • Poplar and Sunflower

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Early morning planting in January 2014

For further information please contact: Paul Delesenne(1): paul.delesenne@fvim.lu Mobile: +352 691 33 11 80 Richard Boomer(1): richard.boomer@fvim.lu Mobile: +352 691 33 11 81 Paul Bertaux: (for technical matters) paul.bertaux@forbiom.eu Mobile: +32 495 89 45 34

Note : 1. Permanent representatives respectively of IZA Lux SA. and Forseven S.A., which are Managing Directors of Forest Value Investment Management S.A.