THE bioenergy policy which has been developed to guide the work programmes and activities of the Bioenergy Department of the National Agricultural Research and Extension Institute (NAREI) has been finalised by the Agriculture Ministry.
This was disclosed in a recent interview with Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy at his Regent Road, Georgetown Office.

The minister advised that the policy will be sent to cabinet in the near future for its approval, after which it can then be implemented.
NAREI Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Dr. Oudho Homenauth had related that sometime last year NAREI was mandated by the Agriculture Minister to establish a Bioenergy Department, which came into fruition earlier this year and is headed by Dr. Clairmont Clementson.
The bioenergy policy was developed by this department and subsequently submitted to the Agriculture Ministry for finalisation.
Homenauth advised that the unit has a number of ongoing programmes, noting that although it is centrally located within NAREI, it works along with other agencies within the system such as the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo), Guyana Energy Agency (GEA) and the Institute of Applied Science and Technology (IAST).
While significant emphasis is being placed on developing sources of cleaner, cheaper energy, a bio-ethanol demonstration plant was last month commissioned in the compound of the Albion Sugar Estate in Berbice.
The first ever such plant in Guyana, the Bio-Ethanol Demonstration Plant is a joint venture between the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Government of Guyana, and is expected to complement the work of NAREI’s bioenergy department.
While the $85M plant will be managed by GuySuCo, the IDB has plugged some $67M into the facility, and the remainder of the cost was borne by Guysuco.
Speaking at the commissioning ceremony, President Donald Ramotar had stated that the bio-ethanol plant shows the potential of the industry and the country in trying to find energy security and cheaper energy for development. He stressed that no country can be developed without having cheap energy.
The Bio-Ethanol Demonstration Plant was established as a part of a programme on which the Government of Guyana had collaborated with the IDB, called “Expanding bio-energy opportunities in Guyana”.
The plant will not be used for commercial purposes, but will serve as a training ground for GuySuCo apprentices and employees, as well as for persons from other institutions.
The main objectives of this plant are to demonstrate the production of fuel grade ethanol locally, to provide fuel for future demonstration of the use of ethanol as a vehicle source, and to develop a facility for the training of local personnel in bio-fuel technologies.
The plant will utilise “blackstrap” molasses, the final output from the sugar production process to produce ethanol of a 99.9 percent grade. This ethanol can then be blended with gasoline for use in vehicles.