PAILLE EN CANNE

Gerard J. M., Director Terragen MAURITIUS Prince A., Project Co-ordinatorDookhun V., Lecturer, Chem & Env Engg, University of Mauritius

HOW CAN THIS PROGRAMME/ACTIVITY HELP TO INCREASE SOCIAL BENEFITS OF CLIMATE CHANGE POLICIES AND INTERVENTIONS?

1. Policy level- Increasing the share of renewable sources in electricity production up to 35% by 2025 (MID 2011)- Abating GHGs emissions by 30% by the year 2030- Contribution towards achieving governmental objectives to reduce impact of climate change- Supporting the valorization of bagasse and cane trash as a source of renewable-energy

2. Technical level- Setting up of an innovative and adapted industrial process to harvest cane trash on fields- Valorization of sources of renewable energy to replace part of coal used to produce electricity- Creation of a knowledge sharing platform with key agricultural actors who could transmit their know-how on

this specialized activity

3. Community and individual level- Creation of “green” jobs with a dedicated workforce- Elimination of risks and hazards from open burning of cane fields- Enhanced cooperation with local stakeholders to reduce barriers in implementing this “green” project- Saving of foreign currency

PROGRAMME/ PROJECT BACKGROUND

1.Basic data (sector and place of interventions, financial, beneficiaries )- Sector : Energy and agriculture - Starts in the North of Mauritius (Terragen) but aims to duplicate in other IPPs- To scale up project from industry level to include local small planters - Investment : 4,000,000 $

2.Justification- Need to increase biomass in the mix of power plants in order to continue to decrease coal consumption- Conservation of cane industry which is a part of the Mauritian heritage overcoming a decline over the past

decade in Mauritius: 3600 jobs maintained

3.Major objectives- Make the project replicable in order to diffuse our industrial model over the country and neighboring ones- Prepare the future by decreasing the CO2 emissions in order to respect future decrees about pollution

Situationin2015(Terragenlevel)

WithprojectPAILLEENCANNE(Terragenlevel)

Nationallevel

Biomass(tons)(bagasse+canetrash) 360,000(360+2) 400,000(350+50) 1,200,000(1050+150)Savingofcoal(tons) 115,000 140,000 420,000SavingofCO2 emissions(tons/year) 270,000 310,000 930,000Jobscreated(withcanetrashonly) 12 50 150

BARRIERS

1. Financing- Need for new material assets to improve the industrial process- Legislative framework do not define growers remuneration- Need to work on a specific tariff for electricity produced with cane trash for each IPP

2. Relationship with the local agricultural department- Reluctance to shift from traditionnal work practicies - The long term agronomic impact of cane trash harvesting is yet to be defined

3. Adaptation of the process to small planters- Manual harvesting of sugarcane renders processing of cane trash more complicated- Different techniques utilized for growing of cane at Terra company as compared to others - Agricultural equipment need to be adapted to harvest cane trash.

RESULTS : YEAR 2015 (1/3)

• Collection of cane trash during sugarcane campaign: from July to December

• The main goal of Mauritius NDC is “to abate its GHGs emissions by 30%, by 2030, relative to the business as usual scenario of 7 million tons CO2-equiv.” By considering the current GHGs emissions of 5,1 Mtons CO2-equiv, the 270,000 tons saved in 2015 represent an abating of 5,3%

• Challenges faced in current year (attributed to CC effects) pushed to understand some major problems we could face:

• The intensification of cyclones in shorter period of time (INDC 2015)

• CC model projections show that large variations exist in annual rainfall patterns (INDC 2015), 75 rainy days in 2015 during dry season.

2015

Biomassburnt

360,000tons

Decrease ofCO2

emissions270,000tons

Coalsavings115,00tons

Electricitypower

133GWh

Jobscreated12

RESULTS (2/3)• Rainy days: 63,5 on 150 available• Investments: 400,000 USD

• Average over the period :• 6,6 T/h • 70 bales per day

• Maximum values:§ 12 t/h on the 29th of September§ 170 bales achieved the 23th of October 2015

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Amountofbalesunpackedpermonth• Dependance on fields operations• 250 000 USD

• Average over the period :§ 6,8 t/h § 60 bales/day unpacked

• Maximum values:§ 17 t/h on the 31st of October§ 222 bales unpacked on the 15th October 2015

ü AT THE FIELD

ü AT THE PLANT

RESULTS (3/3) : AT THE POWER PLANT LEVEL

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Mitigation contributions from Mauritius NDC (2015):

• Expansion in biomass energy production

• Abating greenhouse gas emissions

LESSONS LEARNT AND ADAPTATIVE RESPONSE• The weather is difficult to forecast in Mauritius and changes fastly

§ To cope with this situation, it is necessary to often measure the humidity of cane trash in order to work efficiently

• Long distance between fields and factory location§ More agricultural equiment required to reduce transfers (requires purchase of one more baler in 2016)

• Agronomic impact of cane trash collection has to be monitored§ Setting up of experimental fields§ Collaboration with local and international research institutes engaged at different levels in the projet:

MSIRI, CIRAD, AFD, MRC

• Mechanical equipment locally available are not adapted to the cane trash collection§ Baler, spare parts have been reinforced and maintenance increased§ Adaptation of wheel rake has been done to make it more compatible with local plantation system

HOW CAN THIS EXPERIENCE SUPPORT OTHER LOCAL, REGIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL STAKEHOLDERS TO ENGAGE/CONTRIBUTE TO

RESOLVING THE IDENTIFIED ISSUES?

• Sharing of experience and addressing barriers (ISSCT Congress 2015, Mauritius)• Successful implementation of the project at Terragen will motivate other IPPs to duplicate the experience

• Success of the project will drive local renewable energy policy to desired level of outcomes (potential remuneration of cane trash recovery will encourage more stakeholders to participate in the project )

• Generation of data that will help on life cycle study of such projects

• Engaging non-state actors and civil organisations to collaborate in a joint project, will help reduce local agricultural land abandonment

CONCLUSION

(I) The diffusion of the project « PAILLE EN CANNE » allows to support short term actions with a long term impact in order to cope with the global warming.

It is a significant step towards a cleaner future for the next generations.

The goal is to make cane trash a common and sustainable richness for the whole society, from the biggest to the smallest planter, for sugar as well as energy industries

II) The project addresses GCCA+ Priorities 1, 2 and 3

Sectors: Energy and Agriculture

Priority (1) Mainstreaming:

Shifting from non renewable resources to the utilization of more locally abundant biomass for electricity production allows an important saving of foreign currency that can be re-injected into local economy to promote development efforts benefiting the population at large.

Priority (2) Increasing resilience:

Affordable energy will help maintain purchasing power of the civil society

Better ability to cope with expenditures resulting from climate change effects

( e.g. repair of damages caused by flooding, increased cost of health care and increase in price of food commodities).

Priority (3) Supporting CC mitigation strategies:

Climate change effects expected to increase due to land abandonment and large growers shifting from agricultural operation to other sectors (e.g. tourism industry)

This project intends to motivate civil organizations and non-state actors to remain in the agricultural sector, and at the same time help the country to

implement the INDC.

NEXT STEPS

The main future steps concerning this project are

- To reach the goal of 25,000 tons of cane trash collected per year on the fields

- To open the project to small planters and to computerize data recording system at field level

- To provide training to key actors in the process for better implementation of the project at national level

RECOMMENDATIONS to GCCA

q To consider funding a scale up of the project that will allow for acquisition of adapted agricultural equipment and computerization of field data managementq To support capacity building for key players for a successful implementation of the project q To enable multi-stakeholder dialogue through national workshops on valorization of co-products of the cane industry such as cane tops and leaves.