2-25-09, 10:57 am

HAVANA, Cuba, Feb 24 (acn) The Cuban government is working on a pilot project with the support of the UN's Organization for Industrial Development to generate electricity from forest biomass.

The demonstration plan consists of setting up a 50 kilowatt power-generating unit that would be fuelled by forest resources from a natural reserve located in the southeast of Isla de la Juventud (Isle of Youth, an island located off the south coast of Havana province).

Other organizations involved in the project, that will be put into practice shortly, are the UN's Environmental Program, the Fund for the Global Environment and coordinated by CUBAENERGIA with the support of the Electric Union and the Agricultural Ministry, Juventud Rebelde daily reported.

The unit will be located in Cocodrilo, a fishing community with 400 inhabitants, which has an isolated electrical system with a top demand of 32 kilowatts.

The town will benefit directly from the setting up of the unit that will burn a mixture of diesel and gasified forest biomass. This is expected to save at least 75 percent of oil.

The raw material would be obtained from a sustainable management of the forest and the ashes produced during the operation of the unit with gasified biomass – one of the main environmental concerns of this type of activity – will be reincorporated into the soil.

Another unit will be set up in La Melvis with a generation capacity of one megawatt that will be added to the electrical system of the town.

Meanwhile, a comprehensive forest growth program is being carried out to meet the demand for biomass in a mid and long term.

From the Cuban News Agency