Operational Performance
Biofuels ETHANOL HIGHLIGHTS
To make sure production meets demand on the Brazilian market, the company seeks acquisition transactions to boost its energy park. In March 2011, for example, it invested R$ 195.4 million in the Guarani S.A. sugar, ethanol and energy outfit and now holds 31.44% equity stakes in it. Guarani currently owns seven plants in São Paulo and one on the African continent, in Mozambique. With the Mozambican government’s approval of the legal framework for a 10% blend of ethanol with gasoline (E10) from 2012, the associated company is developing a project to build a distillery in the country with an ethanol production capacity of about 20,000 m³/ year to meet the new demand when the measure comes into force. Petrobras Biocombustível, in turn, now owns 49% of the joint stock of Nova Fronteira Bioenergia S.A., after an investment worth R$ 163 million, and has announced that over the next three years it will invest R$ 530.7 million in revamping the Boa Vista
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2011 SUSTAINABILITY REPORT
Plant, in Goiás. Crushing capacity will grow to 8 million tonnes/year. With the investment, annual production should grow to 700,000 m³, up from the current 176,000 m³, making this plant the largest unit dedicated solely to producing ethanol from sugarcane in the world, with the cogeneration of 600 GWh/year of electricity. The company made the final contribution of R$ 22 million – totaling R$ 155 million – to the capital stock of the Total Agroindústria Canavieira S.A. ethanol plant, which is located in Minas Gerais and now holds 43.58% of its equity interest. Total invested more than R$ 21 million in expanding its sugarcane production and R$ 11.1 million in equipment purchases. In addition, the company started investments in the order of R$ 122 million, for the 2011-2013 period, to build the second phase of the plant and plans to double its crushing capacity to 2.4 million tons in 2013. After this investment, ethanol production capacity could reach 200,000 m³, while power generation from bagasse may skyrocket from the current 30 GWh/year to 86 GWh/year.