News / National
Locally produced fuel granted distribution licence
02 Nov 2011 at 04:22hrs | Views
Blended fuel supplies from the Green Fuel plant in Chisumbanje will start flowing into the market. The company said its new generation anhydrous ethanol is available for immediate 10 percent blended with petroleum.
The blended fuel will be distributed through local oil companies after the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority granted the company a trading licence.
A company spokesman said that while their pricing had to be competitive, there was a high possibility of offering lower prices.
Although he could not be specific, he said the prices would be announced soon.
Pump prices for fuel are currently at between US$1,37 and US$1,45 for petrol and from US$1,26 to US$1,36 for diesel.
"Our new generation anhydrous ethanol is available for immediate 10 percent blending with petroleum and is safe. While the pricing structure needs to be competitive for sustainable production, we anticipate a drop in local blend prices in reaction to our presence on the market."
The spokesperson added that Green Fuel's ethanol plant was operating 24 hours, processing 2 500 tonnes of cane into daily ethanol output volumes of 180 000 litres.
In terms of renewable energy, Green Fuel will produce green transportation ethanol as well as 18 megawatts of electricity as a by-product.
A third of this will be used to power the plant while the balance is fed into the national electricity grid.
Production at the Chisumbanje plant started recently when the Ministry of Energy and Power Development announced a 10 percent minimum blending policy.
Green Fuel began the production of ethanol at the plant using technology from Brazil. The Government, in recognition of a wider revenue base for the local economy and fuel import substitution and employment creation, has accorded the ethanol project national project status.
It is anticipated that in the long term, Green Fuel projects, with government support and further investment, would achieve an output of 1,5 billion litres of ethanol annually.
The blended fuel will be distributed through local oil companies after the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority granted the company a trading licence.
A company spokesman said that while their pricing had to be competitive, there was a high possibility of offering lower prices.
Although he could not be specific, he said the prices would be announced soon.
Pump prices for fuel are currently at between US$1,37 and US$1,45 for petrol and from US$1,26 to US$1,36 for diesel.
"Our new generation anhydrous ethanol is available for immediate 10 percent blending with petroleum and is safe. While the pricing structure needs to be competitive for sustainable production, we anticipate a drop in local blend prices in reaction to our presence on the market."
The spokesperson added that Green Fuel's ethanol plant was operating 24 hours, processing 2 500 tonnes of cane into daily ethanol output volumes of 180 000 litres.
In terms of renewable energy, Green Fuel will produce green transportation ethanol as well as 18 megawatts of electricity as a by-product.
A third of this will be used to power the plant while the balance is fed into the national electricity grid.
Production at the Chisumbanje plant started recently when the Ministry of Energy and Power Development announced a 10 percent minimum blending policy.
Green Fuel began the production of ethanol at the plant using technology from Brazil. The Government, in recognition of a wider revenue base for the local economy and fuel import substitution and employment creation, has accorded the ethanol project national project status.
It is anticipated that in the long term, Green Fuel projects, with government support and further investment, would achieve an output of 1,5 billion litres of ethanol annually.
Source - TH
