|
Paraguay Renewable Energy Resources
To reduce the nation's costly foreign-exchange expenditures on
imported oil, the Paraguayan government in the 1980s experimented
with a variety of nontraditional renewable energy resources. The
most important of these experiments was a national plan for the use
of ethanol, an octane enhancer and partial substitute for gasoline.
The National Ethanol Plan mirrored efforts in Brazil to use sugarbased ethanol in vehicles, where most of Paraguay's petroleum was
consumed. Ethanol policy was spearheaded by the National Commission
on Fuel Alcohols and implemented by the government's Paraguay
Ethanol Agency. In the 1980s, the policy was the subject of a
national debate that examined the government's large role in the
industry as a price fixer and promoter and weighed the industry's
general inefficiency against its foreign-exchange savings.
Paraguay began producing ethanol in 1980. In the late 1980s,
there were at least six fuel alcohol plants, and roughly ten more
were planned into the 1990s. Most plants were located in canegrowing areas and used sugar or molasses to produce anhydrous
alcohol, generally utilizing Brazilian technology. Hydrated
ethanol, a complete gasoline substitute, also was produced for more
than 7,000 specially made cars from Brazil. Ethanol production in
the late 1980s exceeded 20 million liters. Analysts estimated that
alcohol production substituted for 130,000 barrels of imported oil
a year.
The government also experimented with other nontraditional
energy resources. These included methanol, solar energy, wind
energy, wood gasification, mini-hydroelectric plants, and gas
generated from organic material.
Data as of December 1988
|
