Sugar-cane bagasse to grow 50%
Folha de S. Paulo - 02/07/2008
While the exportation of alcohol and the price paid to producers per ton of sugar-cane fall, another segment of the sugar and alcohol sector foresees expressive results in this year's production. The energy generated by the sugar-cane bagasse sold by the plants to the electric energy concessionaires or in public auctions may increase by 50% in the next harvest. This energy, from biomass, is one of the bets of the Lula administration to avoid a new energy crisis in the country. Last month, the government announced the "re-issuance" of the "blackout insurance" (seguro-apagão), that is, it will contract reserve energy so as to give more security to the offer of electric energy by the national system. And the expectation of the government is that part of this energy comes from thermoelectric plants that produce energy from sugar-cane bagasse. According to Unica (Union of the Sugar-Cane Industry), the plants may produce 1,500 MW of power in excess in the 2008/09 harvest. In the last harvest, the surplus was approximately 1,000 MW. The 1,500 MW are equivalent to approximately 10% of the energy supply provided by the hydroelectric plant of Itaipu. "It is a highly positive result. What market grows 50% a year? You can see a valued product and a demand that needs this offer", affirmed Unica's technical director Antonio de Padua Rodrigues. Another 3,000 MW to be generated may be used by the plants for their own consumption. The estimated total of energy should be produced by 30 to 40 plants in the country, 70% of which located in São Paulo. The forecast is that the sector sells R$ 900 million (US$ 511.4 million). Unica foresees that the production may quadruplicate in five or six years.