Ethanol proves a sweet export

Caribbean, Latin American nations turn sugar cane into biofuel for global market

SOJO, PERU


Dallas-based Maple Energy will level the land and plant 20,000 acres of sugar cane in a $157 million project to produce ethanol for export to the United States and Europe.

It plans to begin growing sugar cane here in 2008, using water from a nearby river and a sophisticated drip irrigation system. Ethanol production is expected to start in 2008 with a goal of producing 30 million gallons a year.

“Nobody wanted this land, but now it is worth very much,” said Trelles, the governor of Piura state in northern Peru.

Houston Chronicle