Published by the government of Zimbabwe
Edmore Zvinonzwa
16 August 2007
opinion
Harare — ZIMBABWE'S energy sector is going through its most trying time in the post-independence era.
As far as electricity is concerned, reports indicate that the whole of sub-Saharan Africa is facing shortages this year and beyond.
Zimbabwe has had to introduce load-shedding to deal with power shortages. Sugarcane companies in the Lowveld have been generating their own electricity using biogas from sugarcane fibre.
As far as fuel is concerned, Government has been mulling plans to revive the Feruka Oil Refinery in a bid to deal with the shortages. An unnamed Iranian company was reportedly carrying out feasibility studies at the refinery in May this year.
Zimbabwe has also been working on extracting biodiesel from jatropha as a way of cutting the country's dependence on imported fuel.
The Herald Business (August 10, 2007) reported that the construction of a biodiesel plant, which is expected to produce about 300 000 litres of diesel a day using jatropha seeds, was at an advanced stage. The project, which commenced in May last year, was being carried out by Finealt, a Government-owned company that is currently producing 200-250 litres of diesel per day for its own consumption and for research purposes. It is envisaged that the production of biodiesel will give by-products like soap, glycerine and fertilizer.
Alongside these are efforts to resuscitate operations at Triangle Ethanol Plant, which is also expected to alleviate Zimbabwe's fuel woes. It is, therefore, important to give full support to these projects, especially in terms of policy, research and financial resources.
Ethanol is an alcohol-based alternative fuel produced by fermenting and distilling starch crops that would have been converted into simple sugars. It is then blended with petrol and is cheaper than hydrocarbon fuels.
Ethanol is a high performance fuel, which also reduces toxic exhaust emissions and is, therefore, environment-friendly.
Its use is consistent with the provisions of the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which was opened for signature on December 11 1997 in Kyoto, Japan. So far, 175 parties have ratified the protocol.
Countries that have ratified the agreement are required to reduce greenhouse gas emissions below the levels specified for them in the treaty. It seeks to set limits for countries' greenhouse emissions of at least 5 percent from 1990 levels in the commitment period 2008-2012.
In this way, the ethanol project should get the full support of environmentalists as ethanol cuts on carbon emissions.
During the presentation of the financial results for the year ended December 31, 2006 in Johannesburg in February, Peter Staude, chief executive officer of Tongaat Hullett, which owns Triangle Sugar Corporation and which acquired a controlling 50,53 percent stake in Hippo Valley in 2006, announced that the company would start blending fuel grade ethanol with petrol in 2007.
He said Tongaat Hullett was actively involved in determining the viability of bio-ethanol and was assessing the possibility of setting up a co-generation plant as global demand for renewable energy continued to rise. The media have reported that Triangle and Hippo Valley are planning to take advantage of the bio-fuels spin-off at their sugar processing mills.
Triangle Ethanol Plant was constructed in the late 1970s and was commissioned in the early 1980s. During the 1970s, ethanol from the plant was used to blend petrol when the then minority white government had difficulties in obtaining fuel owing to economic sanctions. The plant was shut down in 1992 largely because of the severe drought of that year. The plant, which is currently producing industrial ethanol for export, is set to reopen for production in October this year if everything goes according to plan.
The revival of the plant is to be done with the assistance of the National Oil Company of Zimbabwe following the signing of a technical partnership agreement between the State oil utility, Indian technology company Praj Industries Ltd and Triangle Limited.
Praj Industries Ltd are expected to install a rehydration plant, which will kick-start ethanol production. It is envisaged that once operational, the plant would be able to produce ethanol that will substantially reduce Zimbabwe's fuel import bill, which currently stands at about US$120 million per month.
The Triangle Ethanol Plant will have the capacity to pump more than 20 million litres of ethanol every year, reducing, in the process, Government's fuel import bill by 15 percent in 2010.
Government's commitment to the project was underlined in 2005 when Energy and Power Development Minister Retired Lieutenant-General Michael Nyambuya, during a familiarisation tour of the plant, said:
"Triangle plays a very crucial role in power development and the company was involved in blending petrol with ethanol from 1980 until 1992 when they shelved the programme. We are here to look at the possibility of reopening the plant in the wake of high oil prices on the international market. The main aim is to find alternative sources of energy so that we do not stretch the little foreign currency that we have."
Creamer Media's Engineering news online quotes Rtd Lt-Gen Nyambuya as saying:
"Currently, about 43 000ha is under sugarcane in the country, but we would like to increase our sugarcane hectarage to more than 140 000ha and reduce fuel imports by 15 percent."
This clearly underlines Government's commitment to the project.
Brazil, the world leader in ethanol production, must be used as a role model. Confronted by the oil uncertainties of the 1970s, Brazil turned to the sugarcane-based fuel.
Countries that had huge fuel bills like India and China also took up the scheme with the United States following close behind.
Japan and Sweden started buying ethanol from Brazil to fulfil their environmental obligations under the Kyoto Protocol. In the same way that Brazil adopted ethanol as a cheaper option as compared to fossil fuels, Zimbabwe can bank on the abundance of land and irrigation water in the Lowveld, especially if the Tokwe-Murkosi Dam project is completed, to see the project succeed.
Brazil actually conducted a nationwide campaign to encourage the use of ethanol. State-owned companies were encouraged to test ethanol engines in their fleets and a Sao Paulo telecommunications company converted 400 petrol-driven cars into ethanol ones and stuck them with the logo "Powered by Alcohol".
The campaign proved very successful as evidenced by car manufacturers who were producing vehicles that could be powered by ethanol.
The 1979 Iranian Revolution came with an oil price shock that forced Brazil to step up efforts in initiating what came to be known as the "Proalcool programme", which was in support of the ethanol campaign. The Brazilian experience is one from which Zimbabwe could learn in its efforts to revive ethanol production to get around the current fuel crisis, which is also partly responsible for the escalation in the prices of goods and services.
All efforts, especially environment-friendly ones, that are being mooted to mitigate the fuel problem need the support of policymakers, financiers and society at large as these are bound to reward Zimbabwe in the long run.
These include the jatropha project as well as the planned resuscitation of the Triangle Ethanol Plant.
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