The new plant will increase generation capacity to 120 megawatts. Located in La Democracia, Escuintla, it is expected to begin operations in January 2013.

"According to the project two turbo generators will be installed, each one " ... will be operating with its own boiler with capacity of 250 tons of steam per hour. Both boilers will run on dual fuel, sugar cane bagasse obtained from the milling process and coal when biomass is not available.

Roberto Barrera, power industry consultant, said that the devices will generate with bagasse in the period from November to May and from June to October bunker fuel. The plan is to change the boiler to generate with coal instead of bunker (fuel whose international prices are lower and more stable)", explained an article in Elperiodico.com.gt

Source: elperiodico.com.gt

More on this topic

Sugar Sector Has Opportunities in Energy Generation

April 2014

With the new law on biofuels in Honduras plans are to invest in technology in order to make better use of bagasse and triple the annual capacity for power generation.

The sugar sector currently generates 140 MW of energy a year, of which it sells 100 MW to the national electric power company at seven cents per kilowatt, and the rest is used for internal consumption by the enterprises themselves.

Nicaragua: Millers Request Incentives for Energy Production

May 2013

Nicaraguan millers are preparing investment projects that will increase their sugar production and the generation of energy from sugarcane bagasse.

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After an investment of $80 million the Magdalena mill has opened its new plant which gives it a further 56MW of generation.

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Guatemalan Sugar Producers to Generate Electricity with Carbon

August 2010

The sector is studying the possibility of investing $2.5 billion over seven years in a project to generate electricity from carbon.

Guatemala's sugar mills currently use biomass during the cane-cutting season to generate energy and bunker fuel in the rest of the year. Companies are evaluating whether to replace bunker fuel with mineral carbon, which would require investments of around $2.5 billion over the next seven years.