Green electricity from coffee husks

Development organisation Solidaridad and energy company Essent are introducing a new form of biomass using coffee husks as raw material. The Doen Foundation is supporting the project because it is making a positive contribution to solving the climate problem. The coffee husks are a residual product from Brazilian coffee cultivation and suitable for replacing coal or other fossil fuels to produce electricity in some of Essent's power stations. Using coffee husks as fuel to generate green electricity is a world first. Early calculations of output show that with this innovation it will very soon be possible to achieve a CO2 reduction of at least 90 per cent, compared to an average Dutch power station.

Fair biomass with great reduction in CO2 emissions
The certified coffee companies that supply the raw material work with respect for people and the environment. The coffee harvest in Brazil, which has just begun, produces the coffee husks that are compressed to a form known as pellets. At the end of this year, the entire production (c. 5.000 tonnes) from this first year, will be used in The Netherlands to generate green electricity at Essent's Amer power station in Geertruidenberg. If the whole process is successful, there will be a second load of c. 20,000 tonnes. In Brazil there is a potential of 150,000 to 200,000 tonnes of coffee husk pellets available on an annual basis. This is sufficient to provide more than 100,000 households with green electricity for a year.

The coffee husk is not edible. There is no competition with the food or animal feed chains. It is a residual product with a value of about five per cent of the main product. The new market is not expected to cause any expansion of this cultivation and there will not be any additional pressure on nature and small farmers. The coffee farmers involved are all certified in accordance with the standards of Utz Certified and/or Rainforest Alliance. They now have an extra income thanks to the sale of coffee husks.

The cooperation between Essent and Solidaridad is also prompted by the desire to link the existing quality systems of the two parties: Essent Green Gold Label and Solidaridad's Utz Certified label.

Essent and sustainability
Essent is the biggest producer of Green Electricity in The Netherlands and its aim is to utilise as much biomass as possible for the sustainable production of energy, though at the same time insisting on important conditions: production of the biomass (in liquid or solid form) must not have any negative consequences for the food and animal feed chains, biodiversity or economy of the countries from which the biomass comes. Essent emphasised and endorsed this view again during the Agreement of Schokland (30 June 2007, Schokland, The Netherlands). Essent is always looking for new, natural waste residues that can be used as biomass and that do not compete with the food or animal feed chains with which to produce Green Electricity at its power station in Geertruidenberg. The new hybrid power station which is about to be built will also be equipped for this.

About Solidaridad
Development organisation Solidaridad is the initiative behind, among other enterprises, Max Havelaar, Utz Certified and Café Oké and an authority on development problems and the potency of fair trade with third world countries. Solidaridad is continually starting up new initiatives which contribute to the fight against poverty in developing countries. Close collaboration with large and small companies is of crucial importance in this. As well as in the energy and coffee sectors, Solidaridad also operates in the textiles industry (Kuyichi, MADE-BY), in fruit (Oké fruit) and soya (including in collaboration with Campina).

About the DOEN Foundation
The Doen Foundation is the foundation of the Good Causes Lotteries. DOEN is committed to an inhabitable world in which everyone can participate. It finances initiatives in the fields of Sustainable Development, Culture, Well-being and Social Cohesion. This project makes a positive contribution to solving the climate problem. The product meets the strictest requirements for sustainability of biomass, which go beyond merely saving CO2. Moreover, the public/private collaboration between Solidaridad and energy supplier Essent is a good example to others in the market. Energy can be sustainable. This is why the DOEN Foundation is financing Solidaridad's biomass project from contributions to the National Postcode Lottery.

Published: 10 July 2007