Guyana Skeldon Sugar Modernization
The Skeldon Sugar Modernization Project (SSMP) is located in the Berbice region of Guyana. The colony of Berbice was settled by the Dutch in 1752, and was officially ceded to the United Kingdom in 1814 (later becoming part of what was known as British Guiana). Following the abolition of slavery in 1834, thousands of indentured laborers were brought to Guyana to replace the slaves on the sugarcane plantations, mainly from India but also from Portugal and China. The descendants of these workers continue to live and work in the Berbice region, and will be primary beneficiaries of a more stable electricity supply and the additional employment provided by this CDCF-supported project: the first Carbon Finance Business project using bagasse as fuel to produce electrical power for internal needs, and for sale to the national grid in the process known as co-generation.
Fortunately, Guyana’s unique climate enables a two-season sugar cane harvesting cycle, allowing bagasse to be fed into a cogeneration facility year round. As a result, there is a constant flow of electricity to the grid, which also provides a stable revenue stream to the troubled sugar industry.
The modern sugar factory to be constructed on the Skeldon Sugar Estate will produce Very High Pol (VHP) raw sugar (high quality raw sugar that is in great demand on the international market); the bagasse will be used to generate an average of 10 megawatts of electricity delivering approximately 77 gigawatt hours a year, to start. If the supply of sugar cane and bagasse grows, and if the demand for electricity rises, then more electric power could be produced as needed. The proposed project will displace the use of light fuel oil and heavy fuel oil in diesel engine driven generators operated by Guyana Power and Light Company. The CDCF intends to purchase emission reductions of 500,000 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent over a ten-year period.
This project will benefit the local community in numerous ways:
• Improvement in power supply. Currently there are 5,000 to 10,000 people in the region without access to electricity. In addition to providing access for these consumers, the local commercial and industrial sectors will benefit from the more reliable power supply.
• Increased employment opportunities for three groups. These include farmers that grow and supply sugar cane externally, workers that work in the expanded company-owned plantation, and business- related suppliers and vendors. The existing sugar cane area will be expanded and cane supply will come from the existing estate (expanded from 4,800 to 9,300 hectares) and from private farmers holdings (expanded from 300 to 4,165 hectares) who will cultivate cane exclusively for sale to Guyana Sugar Corporation (GUYSUCO), the project sponsor.
Situated on the northern coast of South America, Guyana is the only English-speaking country on the continent. With an area about the size of the United Kingdom and a population of less than one million, Guyana is sparsely populated. Around 90 percent of the population lives along the coastal belt. The interior of the country contains pristine tropical forests and extensive mineral deposits. The incidence of poverty, at 35 percent of the population, is among the highest in the Western Hemisphere. Most of the rural poor are selfemployed in agriculture or work as manual laborers. Sugar is the most important primary product in Guyana’s traditional sector (including rice, bauxite, gold and timber). It contributes 16 percent of the country’s gross domestic product and 23 percent of export earnings. The sugar industry is the biggest corporate contributor to public revenue; it also directly employs 25,000 people or about 10 percent of Guyana’s labor force.
Bagasse: from Refuse to Fuel
Bagasse is the matted cellulose fiber residue from sugar cane that has been processed in a sugar mill. Previously, bagasse was seen as garbage and burned as solid waste. However as the cost of fuel oil, natural gas and electricity has increased, bagasse has come to be regarded as a fuel, rather than as refuse.
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