The Cuban government and a British energy development company begin a partnership that will increase Cuba’s generated power capacity from renewable energy crops.
Havana Energy Limited inked an agreement with state-owned Zerus S.A. to build biomass power generation plants that will utilize wild shrubs called marabu and the sugarcane waste product bagasse.
This deal entails development of a 30 megawatt power plant at Ciro Redondo Sugar Mill, about 400 kilometers off Havana, with a second stage of four further biomass power plants.
Havana Energy had supported a study of the Scottish Agriculture College in Cuba on November of last year. The study found that the country naturally has about one million hectares of land rich with marabu and that its sugarcane industry has genetically developed energy canes with high fiber content which are ideal for biomass.
“The intended model of bagasse to produce electricity in Ciro Redondo makes total sense and even better if the brushy wood marabu can be utilized and therefore also converting more land to agricultural use,” said Julian Bell from the Scottish Agricultural College.
Vice minister of sugar Nelson Labrada explained that “Bagasse is the fibrous residual left after cane crushing.” In Cuba it is possible via the sugar mills and bagasse based power plants to generate up to 40 percent of the energy needs of the country today.
The Biofuel Center director Martin Tangley said sugar mill biomass plants are “one of the most efficient sources of renewable energy in the world.”
He said “the next stage should be incorporating biofuels from the other waste products from the sugarcane.”
“Cuba has an excellent record both in providing electricity for its people and promoting environmental sustainability. This project will support both objectives,” said Brian Wilson, former British energy minister and incumbent chairperson of Havana Energy.
Havana Energy estimated about seven percent of Cuba’s energy needs are supplied by renewable energy sources.
The Cuban government is eager to increase this percentage through its own natural resources, thereby reducing dependency on fossil fuels.
