Sugarcane is one of the most important/most promising energy crops due to its high primary energy per cultivated area (approximately 600 GJ/ha), but the straw is still underused for electricity generation by the plants. LNBR led SUCRE (Sugarcane Renewable Electricity), a five-year project funded by the Global Environment Facility through the United Nations Development Programme to increase the supply of low-GHG electricity through the generation of bioelectricity from straw. SUCRE is a legacy from 2015 to 2020. This collaboration involved 20 partners who addressed the following main topics: Technologies for straw collection, processing and burning; Economic feasibility of electricity generation in power plants; Environmental and agronomic impacts of straw collection; Legal and Regulatory Framework for the electricity sector; and the Integrated Assessment of the technical, economic, environmental and social impacts of increased straw use for electricity production.

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Technological challenges

With the end of sugarcane burning, straw collection has become an opportunity for energy generation

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Legal & regulatory framework

The current Brazilian legislation hampers energy production from straw and sugarcane bagasse

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Environmental impacts

Field experiments country-wide, were used to understand the agronomic and environmental effects of straw collection

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Economic feasibility

Evaluation of economic feasibility of sugarcane straw for bioelectricity generation

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Dissemination

Dissemination of the results from studies on sugarcane straw collection for electricity generation all over the sugarcane sector

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Tools

As a legacy of the project, two important tools are now available: a special calculator and a straw aptitude map