South-South cooperation: Indian government provides $250 million for West-Africa's Biofuels Fund
In an interesting example of South-South exchanges on biofuels, the Indian Government has provided US$250 million to the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID) for the establishment of a fund to promote biofuels in the West Africa sub-region. Ghana's Prof. Dominic Fobih, the Minister of Lands, Forestry and Mines, made the announcement at the end of a two-day international workshop on financing biofuels projects in West-Africa, held in Accra earlier this week (earlier post). India had already closed a bioenergy cooperation agreement with Senegal earlier this year (earlier post), but is now stepping up its involvement in the region.
In addition, a number of bilateral and multilateral forms of support is to be offered by donor countries for disbursement to farmers through the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) to enable farmers to experiment in the cultivation of Jatropha curcas, a shrub used to produce biofuels.
Minister Fobih said the resources pooled at the conference would help countries and governments in the sub-region to adapt strategies to exploit the full potential of biofuels. He said EBID would play a significant role in the development of the renewable fuels in collaboration with the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development(UNCTAD).
Mr Bashiru Ifo, Managing Director of EBID, said the bank, in conjunction with commercial banks and other financial institutions, as a first step, would be financing a project costing US $35 million for the production of biodiesel in Ghana. He stated that the bank ultimately hoped to contribute as efficiently as possible to fighting unemployment and poverty throughout West-Africa by strengthening the economic and social benefits of biofuels:
biodiesel :: biomass :: bioenergy :: biofuels :: energy :: sustainability :: developing countries :: South-South :: UNCTAD :: ECOWAS :: West-Africa ::
He said the bank was supporting the initiative taken by some member states such as Ghana, Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali and Senegal in accordance with the provisions of the Kyoto Protocol, to reduce the greenhouse gas effect from 2008 to 2012.
He added that EBID would foster private and public partnership to develop biofuels from Jatropha through the financing of both agricultural and industrial production.
The Vice-President, Alhaji Aliu Mahama, who addressed the closing ceremony, said the need for alternative sources of energy became evident during the first energy crisis of the 1970s and that the significant macro-economic gains which the country had recorded during the past six years stood the risk of being nullified through the increasing cost of crude oil in recent times.
The Vice-President said the gains included a phenomenal lowering of inflation from over 50 per cent in 2001 to a single digit approximately, by the end of 2006.
He said this feat and associated benefits were quickly erased by the steep rise in crude oil prices on the world market at the beginning of this year.
He said Ghana was, therefore, determined to develop renewable energy as an alternative source to crude oil.
Alhaji Aliu Mahama said the government’s policy was to support all viable private sector initiatives, that was why it had so far encouraged the development of Jatropha, which was a private sector initiative in the country.
Article continues
In addition, a number of bilateral and multilateral forms of support is to be offered by donor countries for disbursement to farmers through the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) to enable farmers to experiment in the cultivation of Jatropha curcas, a shrub used to produce biofuels.
Minister Fobih said the resources pooled at the conference would help countries and governments in the sub-region to adapt strategies to exploit the full potential of biofuels. He said EBID would play a significant role in the development of the renewable fuels in collaboration with the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development(UNCTAD).
Mr Bashiru Ifo, Managing Director of EBID, said the bank, in conjunction with commercial banks and other financial institutions, as a first step, would be financing a project costing US $35 million for the production of biodiesel in Ghana. He stated that the bank ultimately hoped to contribute as efficiently as possible to fighting unemployment and poverty throughout West-Africa by strengthening the economic and social benefits of biofuels:
biodiesel :: biomass :: bioenergy :: biofuels :: energy :: sustainability :: developing countries :: South-South :: UNCTAD :: ECOWAS :: West-Africa ::
He said the bank was supporting the initiative taken by some member states such as Ghana, Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali and Senegal in accordance with the provisions of the Kyoto Protocol, to reduce the greenhouse gas effect from 2008 to 2012.
He added that EBID would foster private and public partnership to develop biofuels from Jatropha through the financing of both agricultural and industrial production.
The Vice-President, Alhaji Aliu Mahama, who addressed the closing ceremony, said the need for alternative sources of energy became evident during the first energy crisis of the 1970s and that the significant macro-economic gains which the country had recorded during the past six years stood the risk of being nullified through the increasing cost of crude oil in recent times.
The Vice-President said the gains included a phenomenal lowering of inflation from over 50 per cent in 2001 to a single digit approximately, by the end of 2006.
He said this feat and associated benefits were quickly erased by the steep rise in crude oil prices on the world market at the beginning of this year.
He said Ghana was, therefore, determined to develop renewable energy as an alternative source to crude oil.
Alhaji Aliu Mahama said the government’s policy was to support all viable private sector initiatives, that was why it had so far encouraged the development of Jatropha, which was a private sector initiative in the country.
Article continues
Friday, November 17, 2006
500,000 tonne mill for energy wood chips in the Republic of Congo
MagIndustries, a Canadian company involved in industrial and energy projects in Central-Africa (most notably the Republic of Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo), announced that its wholly owned forestry division, MagForestry, has begun the construction of a 500,000 tonne per year wood chipping plant on its harbour-side lands located in the Atlantic port city of Pointe-Noire in the Republic of Congo. The ultimate aim of MagForestry's operations is to satisfy growing global demand for biomass fuels. Especially in Europe, woody biomass is increasingly used in power plants to generate carbon-neutral electricity and heat (in large plants co-fired with coal or 100% biomass, and in smaller combined heat-and-power plants - earlier post). Europe is gradually building infrastructures to import such fuels (bioports and bioterminals, with the port of Antwerp aiming to become a leading hub).
MagForestry recently acquired a 68,000 hectare eucalyptus forestry plantation which lies within a 40 kilometer radius of Pointe-Noire, making it one of the world’s most accessible sources of renewable biomass. The energy and fibre plantation is based on extremely fast growing clones of eucalyptus. During a seven year cycle from planting to harvesting the trees reach heights of 25 meters (80 feet) and yield around 23.5 tonnes of wood per hectare each year once the permanent harvesting cycle starts. With an expected output of 1.6 million tonnes per annum, the plantation yields the energy equivalent of some 3.5 million barrels of oil per year (IEA Bioenergy online biomass calculator).
In a first phase, annual production capacity at the mill will be 500,000 tonnes of eucalyptus wood chips based on 2 shifts per day, with a planned increase towards full capacity to 1 million tones per year following the increased mechanization of forest harvesting. Additional future steps for MagForestry include producing wood-fuel pellets which are in increasing demand in Europe. Over the longer term, the 68,000ha energy plantation will reach an annual production rate of 1.6 million tonnes per year [entry ends here].
bioenergy :: biofuels :: energy :: sustainability :: climate change :: eucalyptus :: plantation :: wood :: chips :: biomass :: Republic of Congo
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