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Ecuador to define biofuels program in mid-May:minister
Platts
QUITO
Petroleumworld.com 04 25 07
Ecuador will announce in mid-May its goals for producing biofuels needed
to supply plans such as one under way to practically eliminate fossil fuel use
in the biologically unique Galapagos Islands, Energy Minister Alberto Acosta
said Tuesday.He declined to provide preliminary figures, but insisted at a press
conference that "we will not stop feeding people in order to feed cars."
Acosta did say that the country currently has 212,500 acres of sugar cane, a
plant used to make ethanol, and this could be increased to 300,000 acres
without encroaching on food production.Brazil, for example, produces about 632 gal of ethanol for every acre of
sugar cane annually. Assuming Ecuador's entire sugar cane crop would go to
ethanol production, its annual production could be from 134 million gal to 190
million gal.Other plans include a pilot project in the coastal city of Guayaquil now
under way to replace 5% of fuel used by cars with biofuels, Acosta said.In the Galapagos, the country hopes to eliminate the use of fossil fuels
by replacing them with biofuels in vehicles and using wind, solar and other
alternative methods to generate electricity to replace current thermoelectric
plants. "We will use the Galapagos as a laboratory to develop alternative
energies," Acosta said.Petroecuador plans to invest $8.785 million in fuel storage and
transportation facilities on the islands, which could later be used to move
biofuels, Acosta said. The $32 million plan for the Galapagos, financed by the
Ecuadorean government, international governments and NGOs, is already underway
and is expected to practically eliminate fossil fuel use in 10 years, Acosta
said. The islands use about 10 million gal/year of gasoline and diesel, with
demand growing by 10%/year, according to information from the ministry.The Galapagos Islands are a national park. Their unique flora and fauna
inspired Charles Darwin's theory of evolution.--Carla Bass, newsdesk@platts.com
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Platts 24 04 07
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