Exotic wilding trees are regarded as a weed in the Central Otago and Lakes regions.
Their potential to become a valuable source of bioenergy is the major part of a wood energy feasibility study being carried out by the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority, Department of Conservation and the Queenstown Lakes and Central Otago district councils.
Queenstown Lakes district general manager community services Paul Wilson told the Otago Daily Times yesterday while it was generally uneconomic to use wilding pines for domestic firewood, it could be economic to turn them into woodchips or pellets to be used by industry.
''For a large-scale industrial user they may well be viable."
He said there was the potential to use the branches of wilding pines as well, and other sources of waste wood, such as that from sawmills.
Mr Wilson declined to say how much the study would cost, but three-quarters of the cost was being met by the authority.
Mr Wilson said biowaste burners were clean and highly efficient, ''offering instant benefits over fuels such as coal and oil''.
The Lakes District council has one production forest and one forest that is predominantly wilding and finding a commercial use for wood waste would make a ''great deal'' of difference to wilding pine control programmes.
''In some places that are accessible, we could be logging those trees for wood chip."
In a report to the council's community services committee yesterday, Mr Wilson said bio-waste burners met the Otago Regional Council's air plan and their use had the potential to bring ''considerable economic benefits'' to the district.
The burner at the Wanaka swimming pool was fired by biowaste trucked from Naseby.
Mr Wilson expected results of the study in the first quarter of next year.
