Our sustainable clean energy projects
Camil Itaqui Biomass Electricity Project
The CAMIL Itaqui Biomass Electricity Generation Project is Clear's first carbon offset project and an excellent example of how offsets can beneift a community while delivering reliable emissions reductions. It generates clean electricity using discarded risk husks (biomass) which would have been left to decay and produce methane, one of the most dangerous greenhouse gases. The electricity consumption from the grid is totally displaced by the power plant and the surplus is sold to the grid. The project is located in Itaqui city, Brazil, and has been operational since 2001. The amount of CO2e avoided because of this project is estimated to be 57,341 tonnes every year.
The main activity in the region is rice production and processing and CAMIL is the biggest rice company in Brazil. Rice mills generate huge amounts of biomass residues (mainly rice husks). Brazilian and local state legislation prohibits the unlicensed displacement and/or uncontrolled burning of that rice husks, as well as the land filling of rice husks, allowing displacement in previously licensed areas. As result, huge amount of rice husks were being left to decay. Before the power plant installation, 81% of rice husks produced were disposed in legal landfills outside the site of CAMIL-Itaqui rice processing plant. After the project implementation, 70% of total rice husk production is being used for fuel in the boiler, with a surplus of 30% rice husks which are disposed in legal landfills outside the location where the project activity takes place. After October 2005 surplus electricity has been sold to the grid, using 93% of all generated rice husks for project activity. The surplus of 7% rice husks is disposed in legal landfills outside the location where the project activity takes place.
The CAMIL project uses a biomass electricity unit with 4.2 MWe of installed capacity for generating energy from rice husks residues. Currently CAMIL demands a maximum of 3.5 MWe, resulting in 0.7 MWe available for the grid. The amount of biomass used by third suppliers is nill, so the company does not depend on external sources of biomass to maintain the power plant in a fully operational state.
Contribution of Camil Itaqui to sustainable development
The project is promoting sustainable development to the host country, providing:
• Increased employment in the area where the plant is located;
• Diversification in the sources of electricity generation;
• Use of clean and efficient technologies, and conserving natural resource to meet Agenda 21 and the Sustainable Development Criteria of Brazil;
• Actions as a clean technology demonstration project, encouraging development of modern and more efficient generation of electricity and thermal energy using biomass fuel throughout the country;
• Optimisation in the use of natural resources, avoid new uncontrolled waste disposal places, using a large amount of rice residues from region.
More information on Camil Itaqui Biomass Electricity can be found here.
Braço Norte III Small Hydro Plant Project
The Braço Norte III Plant is a small, clean, renewable energy hydro plant located in a remote region in central Brazil. Unlike large scale hydro projects, it generates almost no environmental impact.
The region’s main economical activities are agriculture (soya and rice), wood industry and cattle and is one of the fastest growing regions in the country.
The business as usual energy supply to match this increase in demand was gas fired power plants – this project has supplanted the fossil fuels which would have been burnt and the carbon dioxide which would have been released into the atmosphere.
The project also avoids the transmission losses which used to happen over the long distance to connect to the National Grid. It also provides increased stability thanks to locally distributed generation.
More information on Braco Norte III Small Hydro Plant can be found here.
San Jacinto Tizate Geothermal Project
The San Jacinto-Tizate Geothermal Project is a clean, renewable energy geothermal plant in central Nicaragua. Nicaragua is a country endowed with large geothermal potential, due to the presence of volcanoes of the Marribios range along the Pacific coast. The San Jacinto-Tizate area has been known to have potential for geothermal energy for a long time however this has not been pursed because of financial barriers which the funding for this project has overcome.
Energy demand in Nicaragua has been growing at an annual average rate of over 5 %. The Nicaraguan government realizes the need for investment in the electricity sector, however there is still a reliance on highly polluting fossil fuel based sources of energy.
This project contributes to the sustainable development of Nicaragua by bringing economic and development benefits to an economically depressed area, through improved and cheaper electricity supply with less price volatility, and increased foreign investment in the country. The local population are benefited through skills transfer in geothermal engineering and employment opportunities. The project is not visible from the local village and no land use displacement has occurred.
Further environmental benefits will be achieved through the reduction of air-based pollutants, such as oxides of nitrogen, sulphur oxides, carbon monoxide and fine particles, being emitted into the atmosphere due to the reduced combustion of fossil fuels.
More information on San Jacinto Tizate Geothermal Project can be found here.
San Carlos Bagasse Cogeneration Project (SCBCP)
The San Carlos Bagasse Cogeneration project allows efficient combustion of bagasse (the renewable residue from sugarcane processing) in an Ecuadorian sugar mill near the central coast. Since the project started, the mill has been able to sell electricity to the national grid, avoiding that fossil-fuelled thermal plants dispatch the same amount of energy to the grid and avoid the CO2 emissions that would have been produced.
Bagasse cogeneration is important for the energy strategy of the country. Cogeneration is an alternative that allows postponing the installation and/or dispatch of electricity produced by fossil-fuelled generation utilities. By investing to increase in steam efficiency in the sugar and alcohol production and increase in the efficiency of burning the bagasse (more efficient boilers), San Carlos generates surplus steam and uses it exclusively for electricity production (through turbo-generators).
Moreover, using the available natural resources in a more efficient way, the San Carlos project activity helps to enhance the consumption of renewable energy.
Finally, San Carlos considers its employees to be its most valuable and most important resource and therefore the company focuses special attention on social responsibility, work safety and health care. The company has funded the San Carlos Hospital to assist the workers and family for free. The hospital is also opened to the community with the specialties of: pediatrics, cardiology, gynecology, surgery, dentistry, preventive medicine and others. It is considered the best hospital in the region of Guayas Province. The company also provides housing and education through its Collective Contract which supports earnings, working terms, uniforms, tools, and other social contractual benefits.
Besides reducing GHG emissions, San Carlos has also been developing a reforestation program since 2002. During 2003, were planted: 507,48 hectare of Teca, 14,49 hectare of Caoba, 16,41 hectare of Amarillo, 15,52 hectare of Cedro, 3,24 hectare of Laurel, 10 hectare of Guayacán and 5,39 hectare of Fremín Sánchez.
More information on San Carlos Bagasse Cogeneration Project can be found here.
