Brazil’s sugar producers say that bagasse could supply up to 15 percent of Brazilian electric needs

In Brazil, the president of the sugar producers industry association, UNICA, said that bagasse could supply up 11.5 terawatts, or up to 15 percent of Brazil’s electricity by 2015. Bagasse is the waste biomass left over from sugar extraction. Today, the sugar industry supplies 1.6 terawatts, or about 2 percent of the country’s electricity needs. Marcos Jank said that burning more bagasse to generate electricity would complement the country’s hydroelectric projects because sugar cane harvests occur during the dry season, when hydro plants produce less power owing to reduced water levels.

Brazilian conglomerates such as Odebrecht are increasingly focused on the benefits of investment in co-generation projects. Obebrecht will invest $581 million, via its ETH Bioenergia subsidiary, in three ethanol plants in Mato Grosso do Sul state. The plants will have a combined capacity of 15 million tons of sugarcane. The plants will manufacture sugarcane, ethanol and will produce energy from sugarcane bagasse.

Two plants in Nova Alvorada do Sul will be ready for the 2009 and 2010 harvest seasons, while a third plant in Nova Andradina will be operational by 2011. This investment brings Odebrecht’s holding to eight plants in Brazil.

Earlier this month in Angola, Odebrecht agreed with Angola-based Sonangol and Damer to invest US$200 million in sugar ethanol and electricity projects in Malanje province. The Biocom joint venture will produce two million tons of cane, producing 160,000 tons of sugar, 50,000 cubic meters of ethanol and 140 megawatts of electricity per year.