B.S.I. says bagasse will compliment Chalillo

On the heels of last week’s demonstration in Belmopan, today, Chalillo is back in the news and apparently with the support of the Belize Sugar Industry. In a joint press release issued earlier, B.S.I. and B.E.L. says co-generation will compliment, not compete against, Chalillo. According to B.S.I. general manager Joey Montalvo, power generated through bagasse has already been factored into the amount of power Belize will produce in the country in the near future. Montalvo says the nineteen megawatts of power that will be needed in the next six years, can be generated from both Chalillo and co-generation. But before B.S.I. start counting those chickens, the company says it must reform the sugar industry, upgrade the Tower Hill factory and build a co-generation plant: all of which will take a substantial amount of money and expertise from abroad. B.E.L. Chief Executive Officer Lynn Young says bagasse power will be a significant factor needed to maintain stable and competitively priced power.