Industry overview

Global energy demand is predicted to grow by 2.2% per year, compared with 1.5% annually over the last ten years¹. Through extrapolation, this translates into a 57% growth in total world energy consumption by the year 2030, a significant proportion of which will occur in the burgeoning economies of Asia, including China and India².

Increasing competition for energy supplies is feeding national concerns about energy-security. International awareness about the impact of CO₂ emissions on climate change continues to expand. All these factors combine to render renewable energy a priority for governments, energy providers, and consumers alike.

To meet the need for renewable fuel, numerous commercial efforts are under way for large-scale ethanol production; these are, and will be, important contributors towards answering overall demand.

Regions that can readily grow high-energy crops on a large scale and that possess optimal economic factors are poised to emerge as the leading global ethanol suppliers.

With ample land, water, and sunlight, southern Africa has the ideal growing conditions for sugar cane - the highest-energy large-scale ethanol feedstock currently available. Brazil, the dominant cane ethanol producer at present, dedicates the bulk of its supply for domestic use and, further, actively promotes technology transfer for development of ethanol supplies in developing countries. This leaves open significant commercial opportunities for Africa to serve the worldwide market.

The EU has issued renewable energy mandates that explicitly call for imported supplies of biofuels. The US Senate has passed new energy legislation to move beyond oil and to increase biofuels mandates from 7.5 billion gallons to 36 billion gallons by 2022. Mozambique has favourable trade and tariff agreements in place with the EU and several other nations that add to Principle Energy's potential competitiveness in the international ethanol market.