November 12, 2001
BEL affirms commitment to cogeneration from Belize Sugar Industries
Belize Electricity Limited (BEL) and Belize
Sugar Industries Limited (BSI) today reiterated their commitment to work together
to provide reliable and secure in-country electrical power generation to meet
Belize’s growing energy demand. This comes after BEL signed a “Memorandum
of Intent to Purchase Power” from BSI in August 2000.
The companies noted that the BEL Chalillo Hydroelectric
Project and the BSI Cogeneration Project will complement each other, and that
both are required in the short term.
<p>“BSI does not see the Chalillo Project
and the Cogeneration Project as competing against each other, but as two sources
to supply the additional power requirements of Belize” said BSI’s
Managing Director Joey Montalvo. “BEL’s projections indicate that
Belize’s demand will more than double in the next 6 to 7 years from its
present 44 megawatts, and Belize will in fact need more than the 19 megawatts
of power that can be generated jointly from Chalillo and Cogeneration. We
should simultaneously develop both,” Montalvo concluded.
BSI is set to complete the Cogeneration Project
in 2004 to meet the projected increase in energy demand and to deliver the
benefits to the nation. Montalvo says that prior to this, the most critical
first step is the need to urgently implement the reform of the sugar industry
as outlined in the new Sugar Act to provide a solid foundation for cogeneration.
The upgrading of the Tower Hill Factory and the building of the Cogeneration
Plant will require a significant investment of money, expertise and equipment,
which are not readily available in Belize. Therefore, BSI plans to seek foreign
investors with co-generation expertise to complete the Project. In the meantime
negotiations between the Independent Power Producer and BEL have commenced
to finalize the Power Purchase Agreement for the supply of power year-round
to the national grid.
“As Belize’s energy demand grows,
we are looking forward to partnering with BSI,” said BEL’s President
and Chief Executive Officer Lynn Young. “Cogeneration from bagasse is
a local renewable source of power that will complement Chalillo. It will contribute
significantly to more stable and competitively priced power for Belizeans
as well as improving the economic well being of the farmers and the sugar
industry in general.”
For further information please contact: Dawn
Sampson, Public Relations Officer
02-70954, ext.127
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