Great potential for Green Energy from agricultural residues
Arnhem/Utrecht, 11 February 2008 - Maria van der Hoeven, Minister of Economic Affairs, will today unload the first consignment of coffee husks for generating Green Energy at Essent's Amer power plant in Geertruidenberg. This consignment of 3,200 tonnes is enough to provide the small town of Geertruidenberg, where the company is based, with electricity for four months.
Minister Van der Hoeven unloads first consignment of coffee husks
In seven years time this project could grow to 250,000 tonnes of coffee husks, enough to supply all the households in a town the size of Eindhoven with power. Worldwide there are no less than a million tonnes of coffee husks available, enough to cover the electricity requirement of 7% of all 6 million Dutch households. It is the first time anywhere in the world that coffee husks have been used to generate Green Energy.
Development organisation Solidaridad and energy company Essent are today taking an important step towards large-scale use of agricultural residues to provide electricity. The Doen Foundation is supporting the project because it is making a real contribution to solving the climate problem. The arrival of the first ship carrying pressed coffee husks from Brazil is the start of a new, sustainable form of biomass. Agricultural residues have the advantage that they do not compete with food provision and do not require any extra land usage. The World Watch Institute estimates that the whole of the world's agricultural and forestry residues produces 700 million tonnes of dry material. A third of this is enough to provide every household in Europe with power.
The coffee husks are a residual product from (Brazilian) coffee growing and are suitable for replacing coal or other fossil fuels to produce electricity in Essent power plants. In the short term it is possible with this innovation to achieve at least a 90 per cent reduction in CO2 compared with an average Dutch electric power plant.
The skins come from sustainable, certified coffee growing (UTZ Certified), so the origin is known. The farmers augment their income and, moreover, become joint-owners of the export company Fair Biomass Brazil BV. The farmers utilise the value of the coffee husks as fertiliser or they utilise its value as combustion material and compensate with other fertilisers.
The collaboration between Essent and Solidaridad has also been consolidated by the desire to link together the existing quality systems of the two parties: the Essent Green Gold Label and the UTZ Certified label.
Essent and sustainability
Essent is the biggest producer of Green Energy (Groene Stroom ®) in the Netherlands and its aim is to use as much biomass as possible for the sustainable production of energy. Essent is always looking for natural waste residues, which can be used as biomass and which do not compete with the food or animal food chains, to produce Green Energy in its power plant in Geertruidenberg. The hybrid power plant (Amer 10) that is soon to be built will also be equipped for this.
With an annual turnover of 6.4 million euros in 2006, Essent is the largest energy company in The Netherlands. Essent supplies electricity, gas and heat to domestic and business customers. Essent is active throughout the entire energy chain: from the production of energy up to and including supply to end users. The corporation views The Netherlands as its home market, but has now also built up a considerable market position in Germany and is doing so increasingly in Belgium too. The environmental branch of the group processes waste into energy and residual currents. Essent employs around 10,000 people.
About Solidaridad
Development organisation Solidaridad counts among its initiatives the Max Havelaar Foundation, UTZ Certified and Café Oké and is an authority on the problems of development and the potential for honest trade with third world countries. Solidaridad is constantly starting new initiatives which contribute to the war on poverty in developing countries. Close cooperation with large and small businesses is of crucial importance in this. As well as in the energy and coffee skin sectors, Solidaridad also works in the textile industry (Kuyichi, MADE-BY, M-Braze), fruit (Oké fruit) and soya (in collaboration with for instance Campina).
About the DOEN Foundation
The DOEN foundation is the fund of the Good Causes Lotteries: the National Postcode Lottery, the Sponsor Bingo Lottery and the BankGiro Lottery. DOEN works to produce a world fit to live in and in which everyone can participate. DOEN provides subsidies, loans, guarantees and contributions to initiatives concerned with Sustainable Development, Culture, Well-being and Social Cohesion. Climate and energy are important themes in the work of DOEN. This project proves that energy can be sustainable and makes a real contribution to solving the climate problem. Moreover, the product meets the strictest requirements of sustainability for biomass, which go further than simply saving on CO2. DOEN also welcomes the collaboration between Solidaridad and energy supplier Essent. It is a fine example to others in the energy market. The DOEN Foundation is financing the biomass project from the donation of the National Postcode Lottery.
Published: 11 February 2008