The Angolan Project, Biocom, that has already started production of sugar, ethanol fuel and is generating energy, has started to inject 10 MegaWatts (MW) of energy into the national electricity grid, the Minister for Mines and Energy has reported.
Set up in the municipality of Cacuso, 75 km from the town of Malanje, Biocom is one of the largest agro-industries in the country and is led by the Brazilian Group Odebrecht. Founded on the production of sugar and ethanol fuel, it also generates electricity, for which it is self-sufficient, and any excess production is transferred to the national network.
At the moment we are buying 10MW, with a forecast, from next year, of tripling the volume we quire”, explained the Minister João Baptista Borges.
According to the government, they are dealing with an “independent energy production”, whose electricity is being injected into the Northern electric grid, acting as a public-private partnership solution.
“We look at it as a necessary means to expand the supply of energy all through the country”, João Baptista Borges pointed out.
The enterprise, that started in September, sees a future maximum production of 120 MW, according to information from Biocom, who negotiated the sale of electricity to the national grid.
At the same time the company is producing an annual output of 18,000 tons of sugar and 3,000m3 of ethanol fuel.
For 2019, the perspective is to produce 256,000 tons of sugar a year, and 30 million litres of ethanol, as well as electrical energy that will be used to back up the high tension Capanda\Cacuso line that supplies the municipality and city of Malanje.
The news agency Lusa reported on the 22 October that the executive had signed an approval to guarantee state financing for part of the investment, USD 298 million, to be undertaken by the partnership between the Brazilian Biocom – and Bioenergia de Angola.
The authorization consists of a presidential order from October 20, the decision justified by the creation of the agro-industrial complex at Capanda (Malanje) and attracting large-scale enterprises to that region, targeting the development of the agricultural industry.
The same order signed by President José Eduardo dos Santos mentions that this partnership takes on a “strategic role” as an anchor industry to “foster the structure for a chain of production in the region” and supply energy for both “industrial and domestic use” in the region.
The Minister of Finances, Armando Manuel is therefore authorized to provide a guarantee “in the name of the state”, covering 70% of the financing in a deal between the Biocom partners and the bank to the value of USD 300 million.
The guarantee is emitted in favour of Biocom, who is obliged to deposit 4% of the amount guaranteed by the State in a “Guarantee Fund” account.
At issue here is a global investment, in the initial phase, of approximately USD 750 million, according to a financing agreement signed in Luanda with the Angolan National Agency for Private Investment (ANIP) August 28 last.
The enterprise has been classified by the Angolan government as important “to counter the current energy shortage in the Malanje and Northern System regions, as well as to diversify the sources of energy available at the moment.
Source: http://www.redeangola.info/biocom-ja-injecta-10-mw-de-energia-na-rede-electrica-nacional/