Zimbabwe to licence new ethanol producers

Zimbabwe’s energy sector regulator plans to licence new ethanol producers to avoid dependency on single supplier Green Fuel (GF).

Under the country’s mandatory blending policy, only GF can license or is accredited to trade the commodity for petrol blending purposes.

The current law states that an ethanol producer for mandatory blending has to be in partnership with the State, and Green Fuel is the only company at present in a joint venture with government.

The Chisumbanje-based company has encountered ethanol supply challenges, with the government using Triangle to gather supplies.

Its plant has an installed capacity of 40 million litres per year of ethanol, but Triangle has only been able to produce 24 million litres due to low market demand.

Zimbabwe needs 80 million litres per year of ethanol.