text: Popular choices for plant biofuels include: oil palm, soybean, castor oil, sunflower oil, safflower oil, corn ethanol, and sugar cane ethanol.
  A 2008 Hawaiian oil palm plantation projection stated: "algae could yield from 5,000-10,000 gallons of oil per acre yearly, compared to 250-350 gallons for jatropha and 600-800 gallons for palm oil".  That comes to 26 kW per acre or 7 W/m. Typical insolation in Hawaii is around 230 W/m., so converting 3% of the incident solar energy to chemical fuel. Total photosynthetic efficiency would include more than just the biodiesel oil, so this number is a lower bound.
  Contrast this with a typical photovoltaic installation, which would produce an average of roughly 22 W/m (roughly 10% of the average insolation), throughout the year. Furthermore, the photovoltaic panels would produce electricity, which is a high-quality form of energy, whereas converting the biodiesel into mechanical energy entails the loss of a large portion of the energy. On the other hand, a liquid fuel is much more convenient for a vehicle than electricity, which has to be stored in heavy, expensive batteries.
  Most crop plants store ~0.25% to 0.5% of the sunlight in the product (corn kernels, potato starch, etc.) Ethanol fuel in Brazil has a calculation that results in: "Per hectare per year, the biomass produced corresponds to 0.27 TJ. This is equivalent to 0.86 W/m. Assuming an average insolation of 225 W/m, the photosynthetic efficiency of sugarcane is 0.38%." Sucrose accounts for little more than 30% of the chemical energy stored in the mature plant; 35% is in the leaves and stem tips, which are left in the fields during harvest, and 35% are in the fibrous material (bagasse) left over from pressing.