With the synchronization of the Bioelectric plant of the Ciro Redondo Power Station in the province of Ciego de Avila to the Cuban National Electric Energy System (SEN,by its Spanish initials), one of the objectives of Biopower S.A. has been met. Biopower S.A. is a company of Cuban and British capital, belonging to the Azcuba Group, created to design and build 5 plants of this type, which will generate 300 MW, from sugar cane waste and marabou chips.
Promoted by the CUBA INITIATIVE of the United Kingdom, it is in line with our objectives of promoting electricity generation from renewable energies, foreseen in our strategic development plans until 2030.
This is also a sign of the positive development of bilateral relations between the United Kingdom and Cuba, which have been enhanced following visits to the UK by President Miguel Díaz-Canel and by Their Royal Highnesses Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall to Cuba.
Bioelectric and Ciro Redondo power plants have been synchronized
With the synchronization of the second boiler of the bioelectric plant to the Ciro Redondo power station and the constant delivery of steam to the main header, the sugar factory has entered its last stage of partial tests. The reliability of the harvesting exercise will depend on these tests and the grinding shall begin seven days later.
With a nominal power of 60 megawatts, which will then be used in the National Electric Energy System (SEN,by its Spanish initials) and save the country around 100,000 barrels of oil per year, it is expected that this second boiler, once stabilized, will guarantee 122 tons of steam and 8 megawatts of energy to the plant.
For this reason, Eduardo Larrosa Vázquez, General Director of the Sugar Company in the province, explains that first it is necessary to guarantee the proper functioning of the central grinding line, which includes the tilter, the shredder, the mills with planetary reducers and the cane and bagasse carriers.
And since grinding cane and obtaining sugar are two different things, testing in the boiler house is a crucial step to start when once steam supply is ensured. Also, acknowledging that even though the hydraulic part has been verified several times, with steam the functionality must be optimal. Consequently, Adisney Peña Paz, Assistant Director of the bioelectric plant, does not rule out possible failures in the interconnections.
As Invasor had previously reported, this is a kind of industrial mutualism where the Ciro Redondo plant will deliver bagasse and water to the bioelectric plant, and the latter will provide it with steam and electricity.
Although to date the fine-tuning of both investments has determined that the only source of fuel used for boiler one, synchronized with the SEN since last March 16, has been marabú biomass, from now on the scenario should change with the start of the colossus.
The aim is to carry out a month of harvesting, if rains allow it, in order to process 200,000 tons of cane and obtain 20,000 tons of sugar, a record that Ecuador, in Baraguá, and Primero eased by obtaining 3,000 and 7,000 tons respectively of the sweet, above the plan.
The completion of the cycle and the aspiration that by 2030 14 percent of the country's energy matrix will rely on plants of this type depends on whether the first bioelectric plant built in Cuba is efficient and the productive chain runs on perfect conditions.
Source Periódico Invasor / Translation Embassy of Cuba in United Kingdom