Brazil: Alta Mogiana Bagasse Cogeneration Project

The Brazil: Alta Mogiana Bagasse Cogeneration Project has increased the efficiency in the bagasse (a renewable fuel source, residue from sugarcane processing) cogeneration facility at Usina Alta Mogiana SA - Açúcar e Álcool (AltaMogiana), a Brazilian sugar mill. The project has enabled the mill to sell electricity to the national grid, avoiding dispatch of the same amount of energy produced by fossil-fueled thermal plants to that grid. The project has helped avoid CO2 emissions and has contributed to the regional and national sustainable development. With increase in steam efficiency in the sugar and alcohol production and in the efficiency of burning the bagasse (more efficient boilers), Alta Mogiana has generated surplus steam and has used it exclusively for electricity production (through turbo-generators). The project has helped mitigate global warming, has created a sustainable competitive advantage for the agricultural production in the sugarcane industry in Brazil, has generated use of available natural resources in a more efficient way, and has been used to demonstrate the viability of electricity generation as a supplementary source of revenue for the sugar industry. Bagasse cogeneration is important for the energy strategy of Brazil.