Reply #7: This is an interesting turn, isn't it? [View All]

[Judi Lynn]

This is breathing new life into Cuba's sugar industry now. Looks like a winner.

From the Houston Chronicle:

June 21, 2006, 5:08PM
Cuba Plans to Increase Ethanol Production


By ANDREA RODRIGUEZ Associated Press Writer
© 2006 The Associated Press

HAVANA — Cuba is investing in its ethanol refineries with hopes of increasing its production of the renewable fuel fivefold as it bets on growing ethanol demand in the face of rising petroleum prices, a leading sugar expert said Wednesday.

Luis Galvez of the Cuban Research Institute for Sugar Cane Derivatives said by 2010 Cuba hoped to be producing 500 million liters (about 130 million gallons) of ethanol annually, which he said would be a fivefold increase of what it produces now.

Galvez spoke to about 200 representatives from a dozen countries at an international congress on sugar and its derivatives. He did not give a current production figure for Cuban ethanol, but did say the island had 17 distilleries capable of producing up to 180 million liters (about 48 million gallons) annually.

To increase production, Galvez said, Cuba must modernize 11 of those existing plants and build seven additional new ones. He did not say how much the improvements would cost.

"We are going to significantly improve the capacity we have now," Galvez said.
(snip/...)

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/fn/3990851.html