Title: Access to Energy and Inclusive Business Promotion with Biofuels in Isolated Communities of the Peruvian Amazon
Location: San Martin region, Peru
Duration: 3 years
Partners: SNV (NL), ITDG (UK), Cordaid (NL)
This project aims to demonstrate the technical, social, economic and environmental feasibility of an integrated and self-sufficient energy model in isolated communities in Peru, in order to improve the conditions for social and economic development and thus reduce poverty. The project focuses on the production of electricity and biofuels, based on PPO and biogas. The production and processing of energy resources is integrated with the production of foodcrops and organic fertilisers.
Specific objectives are:
- To generate knowledge of the utilization of Jatropha and other biomass as a source of electricity through the implementation of a pilot project.
- To validate a high-productivity level production system for Jatropha, with associated food crops, and its transformation for energy production based on biogas and vegetable oil.
- To design an integrated model for the production of electricity adapted to small communities. This will include the extraction of oil, the generation of biogas from Jatropha eedcake and other biomass, the utilization of a hybrid generator adapted to biogas and egetable oils, and the generation of electricity.
- To design and implement a sustainable articulation mechanism between small-scale, associated producers of Jatropha with a local biodiesel production company, in a market oriented win-win approach.
- To design and implement a management model for the community involved, identifying relevant actors, roles and responsibilities in the value chain, in order to ensure the sustainability of the production process and transformation model.
- To promote replication of the pilot project, through the systematization of lessons learned, dissemination of results through a project website and in local, national and international events, and the generation of a learning community based on experience and a public-private platform for knowledge building and policy development.
The expected outputs are:
- An analysis of biophysical and socio-economic conditions of the intervention area, in order to identify a community that features the necessary characteristics to implement the pilot project;
- Sustainable, high-productivity Jatropha production with small-scale producers, in 25 hectares of Jatropha with associated food crops, whilst taking advantage of other potential energy crops in the area;
- Oil extraction from Jatropha seeds, biogas production from Jatropha seedcake and other biomass, for hybrid energy generation in a community with approximately 65 families;
- An inclusive Business mechanism implemented, establishing a sustainable market-based relationship between organized small-scale producers of energy crops and a local biodiesel production company;
- An organizational and management model developed that guarantees sustainable implementation of the value chain at communal level; and
- Systematization and dissemination of results and lessons learned, and their discussion in public-private platforms, seeking replication of the pilot project.
