By Marlon Madden
One of this island’s main rum producers has poured cold water on plans to transform the island’s sugar cane industry into an energy industry, saying he was not impressed with what has been revealed so far.
In fact, owner of Foursquare Rum Distillery Richard Seale told Barbados TODAY the plan to produce more energy from bagasse, a byproduct of sugarcane, was simply not viable.
He admitted that he was not privy to the details of the proposals put forward by the Barbados Sustainable Energy Co-operative Society Limited (Co-op Energy), and said that the rum industry had not been consulted.
“The rum industry should be consulted. But from what I read in the press it, respectfully, doesn’t make any sense,” said Seale.
“There is not a sugar industry in the entire world where the primary product is electricity.
You would have to make massive changes to generate excess electricity. Bagasse is already used to make electricity but that electricity is consumed within the factory.”
Seale explained that in order to produce more electricity from bagasse, changes would include the production of greater quantities of bagasse, and changing out of boilers to convert the bagasse into electricity.
Barbados TODAY reported recently that Co-op Energy is taking over management of the sugar industry from the Government by the end of this year. In addition to taking over the operations of the Barbados Agricultural Management Corporation (BAMC), which oversees the management, production and sale of sugar, Co-op Energy plans to move the sugar industry into renewable energy production.
The intention is to pump more than $100 million in investment into the transformation, Co-op Energy president, Retired Lieutenant Colonel Trevor Browne told Barbados TODAY.
“We will be producing electricity and, as a byproduct, there will also be sugar and molasses. Even though there will be more sugar than there is now and more molasses than there is now, the key thing that we would be producing is energy . . . by burning bagasse as a biofuel. So instead of importing fossil fuel, we will be using the trash from the cane to produce electricity,” he said.
However, speaking with Barbados TODAY on the sidelines of the rum panel discussion of the annual Barbados Rum Experience which was held at the Radisson Aquatica Hotel on Friday, Seale said what he has heard so far was nothing to “change the economics of the sugar industry”.
“So, nothing that I have seen gives me any confidence that there is a viable solution,” he said.
“There is not enough cane on the island to generate sugar and excess bagasse enough to make electricity.”
Indicating that St Nicholas Abbey, Foursquare Rum Distillery and Mount Gay Distilleries Limited were all grinding their own sugar cane, Seale added: “Three rum distilleries can’t save the entire sugar industry, but three rum distilleries can guarantee that sugar cane will be grown and turned into a valuable export product.”
According to the latest Central Bank of Barbados report, rum production was boosted by export demand during the January to September review period. Barbados earned an estimated $4.1 million from sugar for the first nine months of this year and about $21.4 million from rum and other beverages.
“Within the rum world, we are demonstrating that we can take sugar cane to a valuable export product. The obsession is always on sugar but that is the wrong obsession. The obsession should be on how we turn our agricultural products into valuable export products,” said Seale.
marlonmadden@barbadostoday.bb
