Cultivating niche crops is an attractive area for diversification of household production. Such crops usually do not require significant investment in the organization of production but provide a high level of profitability. In recent years, climatic conditions in Ukraine are changing and small producers are selecting alternative crops for cultivation, adapting to these changes. The purpose of the study is to characterize the prospects of cultivating niche energy crops by households. Research methods are monographic, statistical, graphical and tabular, method of comparative analysis. In rural areas, energy crops is one of the renewable energy sources, these are fast-growing perennial shrubs and special one-year plants with a high dry matter content which could be used as fuel. Today there are about 20 species of fast-growing plants that can be grown for plant biomass - eucalyptus, poplar, willow, switchgrass, miscanthus and others. The collected biomass is used for the production of heat and electricity, it can be a raw material for the production of solid biofuels, such as fuel pellets and briquettes. Its main competitive advantage over traditional crops is that it is not necessary to use agricultural land to cultivate it. Advantages of using energy crops are the following: it is possible to use low-yielding and unproductive land for cultivating bioenergy crops; it can replace gas and coal; during the combustion of biofuels based on plant biomass, less carbon dioxide is emitted into the atmosphere than is absorbed by plants in the process of photosynthesis, 20-30 times less sulfur oxide and 3-4 times less ash is formed compared to coal; a by-product of the combustion of solid biofuels is an organic substance that can be used as a fertilizer; the cultivation of bioenergy crops, the production and use of biofuels create additional employment for the rural population and are a source of income, particularly in rural areas. Cultivating niche energy crops can be a viable alternative for small farms.