World's first ethanol power plant opens in Brazil

The world's first ethanol-fuelled power plant was opened in Brazil yesterday by Brazilian utility Petrobas.

The 87MW Juiz de Fora plant has two turbines, one of which has been modified by GE to run on sugarcane-based ethanol, allowing the facility to switch instantly between running off natural gas and ethanol.

Petrobas said that it will now undertake five months of trial operations to check the running of the ethanol turbines and ensure the plant's emissions are in line with expectations, before launching a full commercial operation later this year.

Brazil primarily relies on hydroelectric power but is currently investigating alternative generation technologies as a means of providing back-up power during the dry season.

The country is the world's second largest producer of bioethanol, producing 26.9 billion litres in 2008 for use primarily in vehicles. But experts believe sugar cane-derived biofuel could also be used widely as a low-carbon source of electricity generation.

Maria das Gracas Foster, head of Petrobras' natural gas division, hinted that if the new plant proved successful, further ethanol powered facilities were likely to follow.

"We have great expectations to show the viability and economy of generating electricity from... an alternative feedstock to fossil fuels," she said.

GE is also considering a wider rollout of the technology and already has about 770 turbines in operation similar to those used in the Juiz de Fora plant that could be converted to run on ethanol.