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Brazil’s proposal to build ethanol plant in Guyana never materialised
As Guyana says goodbye to the South American leaders to Guyana, especially President Inacio Lula DaSilva who is demitting office, the Guyana Peoples Partnership is reporting that they are saddened to remind him now that his offer to provide Brazilian technology and assistance to advance ethanol production from sugar cane in Guyana has just collected dust on the Guyana side.
The GPP pointed to the fact that the agreement was signed between himself and President Bharrat Jagdeo in 2005.
“As a reminder ethanol is a high-octane fuel produced from sugarcane that can be used as an alternative and additive to gasoline, thus reducing the need for imports of gasoline for Guyana’s transportation and small scale power generation sector.”
The GPP says that the fact that Guyana needs such a high level gasoline for small scale electricity generators is another indictment on the PPP government “which has failed to provide an energy policy and energy investment climate that provides Guyanese with reliable power to fuel the county’s development…Shame on our President as he watches so many sugar workers suffer to take care of their families.”
The GPP also reports that they are very concerned that Guyana is five years behind in the ethanol project that was proposed in partnership with Brazil.
Brazil is the leading global exporter of ethanol and most of their vehicles run on a blend of 85 per cent Ethanol and 15 per cent gasoline.
“We must diversify the product mix in our sugar industry by increasing ethanol production which also lowers our fuel import bill…The local market for ethanol would be built from a base whereby it will be national energy policy that all gasoline sold in Guyana contains at least 10 per cent ethanol.”
This GPP says would see the increased planting of sugar cane which in turn will create more jobs.
Peter Ramsaroop who heads up GPP in speaking with a group of sugar workers this last week said, “The GPP is of the view that the time is past right for GuySuCo and Guyana to invest in sugar ethanol.”
Sugar Cane in Guyana
He says that by entering now GuySuCo and the private investors would eventually be better positioned to innovate using other feedstock (for example agricultural residue –bagasse, cane leaves and rice straw, forestry residue, grasses, municipal waste) that is abundantly available to produce cellulosic ethanol.
“The potential is tremendous…convert Skeldon Factory into an Ethanol plant.”
He posits that the potential for job creation from modernising the sugar estates for ethanol production and creating the distribution and gasoline blending infrastructure is enormous.
Ramsaroop added, also, that Guyana stands to save foreign exchange by blending domestically produced ethanol with imported gasoline.
He suggests, also, for further diversification of the sugar industry, bagasse can be used in the production of paper as is done in India.
“It is a plan of the GPP to support a feasibility study of bagasse-based paper production in Guyana.”
He said that Guyana needs to get a government that understands the need to facilitate industrial expansion and job creation by applying innovation to the country’s current and potential agricultural output.
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