The UK's first long term contract for crops to be grown to create electricity has been signed by an Oxfordshire firm.

RWE npower, the company that runs Didcot Power Station, has signed an agreement with ESD Biomass, which provides a link between power generating companies and farmers.

Under the agreement, contracts will be offered to growers and landowners to supply 30,000 tonnes of crops per year, to be burned to generate power.

The firms hope the agreement will help them meet the Government target of producing 10 per cent of the UK's electricity requirements from renewable sources by 2010. It will cut the amount of fossil fuels that are used and reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

Kevin McCullough, director of npower renewables, part of RWE npower, said: "By March 2009, generators will have to make sure that an increasing proportion of the materials they burn comes from purposely grown energy crops, including willow.

"This is the first time producers and a large energy generator have agreed a long-term relationship to co-fire specifically grown energy crops, rather than just making use of biofuels that happen to be around."

He added: "The move towards a low-carbon future is challenging and complex."

Andrew Wood, of Oxford Friends of the Earth, said: "Burning wood is a way of producing renewable energy and it gets our support."

In August, South Oxfordshire District Council gave planning permission for a power station in Didcot, run by a separate company.

The plant, which has yet to be approved by the Environment Agency, would use agricultural oils and animal fats.