IDEAS Energy Innovation Contest 2012 Winners Echos Consulting, Jamaica The Family Garden, Jamaica Caribbean ESCO Ltd., Jamaica N.V. VSH Foods, Suriname N.V. Guguplex Technologies, SAC, Suriname B2D, Haiti Prakti Designs, Haiti GSR Energy Limited., Belize 1 P a g e
Caribshare Biogas Project, Echos Consulting, Jamaica Echos Consulting intends to develop a biogas system which will use waste from local hotels and farmers. The business seeks to use the technology to solve two issues: organic waste disposal; importation of fossil fuels to produce electricity. Hotels and farmers will be paid for their food waste and animal manure and the electricity produced will be sold to the grid. The business also expects to sell carbon credits on the open market. Expected Benefits from the project include: rural employment and poverty reduction; reduced dependence on imported fossil fuels for electricity generation; and low carbon development of tourism and agricultural sectors. The project intends to have a fully operational plant by Q3 2014 which will produce 600,000kWh per quarter. It is expected that it will avoid the emission of 160 tco2 per quarter. Project Team Contribution: $50,000 Community hydroponic farming with solar energy, The Family Garden, Jamaica The Family Garden s community project seeks to achieve a number of goals which include: providing employment and income in rural communities; bringing the farm to the community and creating jobs; stopping bad farming practices such as slash and burn.; technology transfer and training; and increased food security. The sponsors already have a hydroponics greenhouse from which they produce herbs for sale on the local market. Currently they use electricity from the mains to power the pumps but it is intended to replace this with electricity from PV systems. This will assist in reducing production costs and improve the sustainability of the project. It is the intent of the project sponsors to replicate the solar greenhouses to other impoverished communities across Jamaica as a means to reduce unemployment and reduce the national food import bill. Project Team Contribution: $38,250 2 P a g e
Energy efficient hybrid solar agro-products dryer utilising alternative renewable energy and liquid desiccant technologies, Caribbean ESCO Ltd., Jamaica Caribbean ESCO Ltd. has been operating in Jamaica and across the region for the past two decades. It provides energy conservation services particularly in the hotel sector. This project is directed to assist farmers in providing added value through drying fresh produce. It is hoped that the project will reduce crop wastage and advance agro-processing in the country. The crop dryer designed by Caribbean ESCO Ltd. is expected to operate at minimal to zero energy cost to the user by utilizing energy efficient, alternative, and renewable energy technologies. The combination of heat captured by the solar panels, liquid desiccant and heat from waste oil (or biogas) will reduce the dehydration time and percentage humidity of products. The developers are currently seeking to have the technology patented internationally. It is hoped that the technology can be shared across the region. It is expected that over the two years of the DFID intervention over 100 new jobs will be created and thousands of people will be reached through awareness and media campaigns. Grant Amount: $171,182 Project Team Contribution: $20,000 Collect and recycle used vegetable oil to Bio-diesel, N.V. VSH Foods, Suriname N.V. VSH Foods is a subsidiary of the N.V. VSH group, one of the largest conglomerates in Suriname. N.V. VSH Foods manufactures liquid and hard frying fats for the local and export market. As a means of reducing their fuel costs, the company started using waste fats and oils to produce biodiesel. This biodiesel is used to fuel the process boilers. The company in an effort to become more environmentally friendly and to reduce its energy costs developed this project to increase their biodiesel production. It has the added benefit of helping to clean up the city of poorly disposed of waste oils (the disposal of waste oils into drains is a cause of flooding in the city). As the company will be paying for waste oil collected, so the project also provides an economic benefit to the wider community. Project Team Contribution: $156,687 3 P a g e
Rural solar acceleration project, N.V. Guguplex Technologies SAC, Suriname Guguplex aims to bring affordable, clean solar power to rural communities in Suriname who do not have 24/7access to electricity. Many rural communities depend on kerosene lamps and/or candles for night light. This aggravates respiratory conditions and can be costly. Guguplex intends to provide solar lighting at minimal cost through assistance from a local micro-finance institution. Guguplex sells and maintains solar equipment on a retail basis through its store in Paramaribo. This project will build on work already started on a pro bono basis. It is intended that at the end of two years, 80 homes across five communities in the country will have solar systems installed. In addition, two schools will benefit by having systems installed on their premises. The project also aims to increase employment by training 25 entrepreneurs to provide solar equipment directly in rural communities. The project sponsors have already established a working relationship with the Women s Business Group a local micro-credit unit and the Godo Bank. Both of these entities will provide funding to project participants to purchase the solar equipment. Grant Amount: $166,539 Project Team Contribution: $71,300 Electrification for rural Haiti, B2D, Haiti Current power options in rural Haiti are limited, expensive and polluting. B2D proposes to address this gap by helping to solve another problem, that of unused agricultural waste. B2D intends to use agricultural waste as the feedstock for a gasifier which will drive a turbine to produce electricity. This electricity will be used to provide energy to small groups of buildings in a community in a micro-grid. It is the intention of B2D to install up to 5MW capacity over a seven year period. The DFID supported project will act as a pilot and see the installation of a 20 kw system. This system it is hoped will meet the energy needs of 75 households and businesses. It is expected that at full capacity over 400 full time jobs will be created. The provision of electricity to rural communities is expected to improve the health and wellbeing of communities especially of women and children; increase time spent in formal education; increase incomes through job creation and reduce time spent on household tasks. Grant Amount: $148,588 Project Team Contribution: $119,165 4 P a g e
Fuel efficient and clean cooking stoves, Prakti Design, Haiti Prakti is an internationally recognised name in the field of biomass cook stoves. The Prakti Wouj stove was introduced to the Haitian market in 2010 through an initiative of the International Lifeline Fund and the World Food Programme. Under that initiative 2,200 stoves were provided to households in the country. A review of the initial programme found that the Prakti Wouj had very good approval ratings (satisfaction rate of 98% for usability, reduced fuel consumption), and durability). It has been describes as the best stove of its type in the Haitian market. The DFID supported project is intended to build on the success of the stove thus far. Prakti intends to open commercial stores where people can come to purchase the stoves. Over the two years of the DFID funding, it is intended that four stores will be opened. The average urban Haitian household consumes 2.27 kg of charcoal per day which translates to approximately $1.15 spent on fuel or 28% of average income for those who are employed. Each household using the Wouj will see an average savings in fuel cost of $0.58 daily ($212 in savings per year). At the intended retail price of $50, the Wouj provides a return on investment in 3 months. Grant Amount: $199,728 Project Team Contribution: $618,000 Optimisation of the energy efficiency of a bagasse co-generation project, GSR Energy Limited, Belize Belize has the distinction of being the only CARICOM Member state that depends on another country for up to 40% of its electricity needs. Like most other CARICOM states, it imports the majority of its transportation fuel. GSR has prepared this project to reduce the country s dependency on external sources to meet its energy needs. GSR Energy Limited ( GSR ) was registered in June of 2009 under Article 250 of the Belize Companies Act as a Limited Liability Corporation. The project seeks to construct and operate a sugar cane biorefinery that will produce ethanol (25 MG/yr) for the export market as well as (36 MW) electricity by using bagasse as a feedstock for a co-gen plant. The main purpose of the DFID grant is to support the technical studies to be undertaken for the project and provide other assistance required to enable the project to get up and running. The project has the potential to cut 173,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions per year and create over 400 jobs. The project has already received written support from the government who see this as helping them to achieve an increased level of energy security. Project Team Contribution: $40,000 5 P a g e