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Community Lifelines Programme - Energy Sector - Projects - CocoGen
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Coconut Oil for Power Generation by EPC in Samoa (CocoGen)
Project Purpose
The Electric Power Corporation (EPC) in cooperation with the Government of Samoa and UNDP Samoa are undertaking the preparatory phase of the Coconut Oil for Power Generation (CocoGen) project. UNDP Samoa funds this preparatory phase. As part of the preparatory activities a consultancy are required to provide assistance in the preparation of a feasibility study and the development of a Global Environmental Facility (GEF) Operational Program (OP)-6 Medium-Sized? Project (MSP) Proposal.
Objectives
a) To determine the resource, technical, institutional, regulatory, economic and financial feasibility of the substitution of coconut oil to diesel fuel oil (DFO) in EPC’s power generation; and
b) To prepare a Proposal for promotion of coconut oil-based power generation, and accompanying barrier removal activities.
SOPAC CocoGen Team
The CocoGen team consists of: Chris Cheatham (Power Economist), Jan Cloin, (Project Manager), Dr. Wolf Forstreuter (GIS Forestry/Coconut Resource Specialist) Dr. Gilles Vaitilingom (Biofuel Specialist).
Summary
Samoa is currently dependent on the import of diesel fuel for a significant part of its power generation. Therefore, EPC is looking into viable and cleaner alternatives that make use of an abundant local resource: the coconut. As coconut-based exporting agro industries are struggling, it is also very timely to develop a new domestic market for coconuts. Traditional copra oil industry has almost disappeared through low returns for local labour.
Coconut oil can replace diesel fuel through using blends, straight coconut oil, or using biodiesel. If blends below 10% are used, no adaptations are required, provided the engine runs in the upper part of the load curve. Above a 10 % blend, alterations to engines are required. For biodiesel made from coconut oil, no alterations to engines are required. However, the production cost of Coconut Oil Biodiesel in Samoa cannot compete with diesel fuel at oil prices of US$ 50 per barrel. Biodiesel might become a viable option with production based on lower cost waste vegetable oil.
Savai'i transformer with coconut palm in the background
The most economic option is using low blends of coconut oil with no engine adaptations or using higher blends with adapted engines. Because of the hardship in the traditional copra oil sector, the only large mill, COPS on Upolu, is unable to produce constant supply of quality in the short to medium term. It is therefore proposed for EPC to produce its own fuel straight from coconuts. The Coconut Oil Fuel plant avoids the traditional copra method, instead uses a highly mechanised production process. Having the oil production under EPC management in a dedicated Coconut Oil Fuel plant, gives control over quality and quantity, but comes at a premium price in the short term.
The potential resource of coconuts has been assessed using GIS technology. A total harvest of 126 million coconuts per year was estimated, using a custom-built database in operation at the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment. The coconuts available for Coconut Oil Fuel including a EPC operated collection system with trucks on Savai’i have been estimated to 16 million in 2006, climbing to 50 million in 2010 provided a premium return to the farmers of 13 sene per nut.
Technically, it is possible to process fuel-grade coconut oil at the power station in Savai’i, which can be blended with diesel. It is also possible to adapt a dedicated engine to run on pure coconut oil. The milling operation will collect nuts throughout Savai’i and pay farmers cash for their coconuts. A two-phase approach is suggested, in which first a 0.66 Ml plant is built. After proof of concept and indication that further coconut supply exists, an expansion to a 1.8 Ml plant is proposed. Uses for by-products such as husks, shells and coconut water are suggested. This Renewable Energy source will be in addition to the proposed 1.8 MW run-of-river hydropower dam in Savai’i.
Economically, both phases I and II will be very beneficial for Samoa as a whole. For EPC however, phase I will be very tight in terms of benefit versus costs. If Phase II is implemented, greater financial benefits for EPC will materialise. The Financial benefits for EPC are further greatly dependent on the oil price, but even more so on the price per coconut. Therefore, before the project is implemented, a thorough market research including the smallholder farms is suggested.
The real beneficiaries of the proposed Coconut Oil Fuel production project are the farmers and plantation holders in Savai’i and less so Upolu through the re-creation of a stable local market for coconuts. Second beneficiary will be EPC through cutting of direct fuel costs and finally yet importantly the Environment of Samoa will benefit greatly through a reduction of emissions.
CocoGen II
After the CocoGen Feasibility study was published, it was agreed with UNDP that SOPAC will continue its work preparing an investment proposal for a coconut based fuel plant for EPC, including an environmental impact assessment.
As a start of the second phase of the project, an Inception Report was written. As work progresses, more findings will be posted online.
Download related documents:
Download CocoGen Inception Report (533 kB, PDF)
Download CocoGen Debriefing Report (1,800 kB, PDF)
Download Biofuel Paper with CocoGen as a Case study Published at the Pacific Power Annual Conference "Coconut Oil Biofuel - Clean and Competitive" (514 kB, PDF)
Download CocoGen Feasibility Study Report (1,3 MB, PDF)
Download CocoGen II Inception Report (1,04 MB, PDF)
For more information please contact:
Paul Fairbairn
Manager Community Lifelines
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Page last modified on Wednesday 23 of July, 2008 [03:45:16 UTC] by atishma .
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