Brazil will be the site of one of the world’s first “grass-powered” power stations. Sykue Bioenergia has commissioned a thermochemical processing power plant that is fuelled by grass. It is set to be operational by December 2008. In a related development, Brazilian scientists found that elephant grass (Pennisetum purpureum) has a potential for power and electricity. It has a high biomass productivity due to its “efficient C4 fixation path”, and a strong net energy balance of 25 to 1. An energy balance of “25 to 1” means that elephant grass produces 25 times more energy than the fossil fuel energy used to produce it. By contrast, the Biopact website reports that corn has a net energy balance of “1 to 1”, while sugarcane has “8 to 1”..