Isra-Mart srl:UK firm signs sweet deal with Cuban sugar producers

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Isra-Mart srl news:

A British company has signed a landmark $250 million (£157m) deal with the Cuban government to produce power from the waste products of the nation's numerous sugar mills.

Havana Energy, chaired by former energy minister Brian Wilson, plans to develop a pilot 30MW power plant at Ciro Redondo sugar mill, about 400km from Havana, in a joint venture with Zerus SA, a company linked to the Cuban Ministry of Sugar.

The companies expect deliver a return on the initial investment within five years and in the longer term will investigate the potential for four further 32MW plants across the island nation.

"Cuba has an excellent record both in providing electricity for its people and promoting environmental sustainability," Wilson said. "This project will support both objectives."

Cuba aims to bolster its renewable energy output significantly from its current level of around seven per cent and the government believes sugar bagasse, the fibrous residual left after cane crushing, could meet up to 40 per cent of its energy needs while avoiding the supply issues presented by fossil fuel imports.

The National Electricity Board is also looking to boost the generation capabilities of all its sugar mills as part of its strategy to decentralise the grid and improve power access in rural areas.

In addition, the government is examining other potential feedstocks, in particular a brushy shrub called Marabu, which has invaded over a million hectares of land in Cuba but was identified as a possible source of energy by a party of Scottish academics who visited in November.

Julian Bell from the Scottish Agricultural College, who was one of the party, said: "The intended model of bagasse to produce electricity in Ciro Redondo makes total sense and [is] even better if the brushy wood Marabu can be utilised, therefore also converting more land to agricultural use."