A project to generate electricity using sugarcane biomass at a sugar mill near Havana will contribute 143 gigawatt hours annually to the national electric power grid and help curb the emission of harmful greenhouse gases created by burning fossil fuels. A 30 megawatt thermal power plant will be built next to the Héctor Molina Sugar Complex and supply steam and electricity to the sugar processing plant and distillery generated from the fibrous residue that remains after the sugar juice is extracted from crushed cane.

The project was presented at a regional workshop held in Havana in mid-October on energy generation from biomass in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The papers presented at the workshop will be published in November, Denis Desgain of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) told Tierramérica.