Processing company finds cheaper source of power
Arku Jasmine
Business News
HPW Fresh and Dry Ltd, a fruit processing company in the Eastern Region, has found an innovative way to insulate itself from the unreliability and rising cost of electricity in the country.
The company, which processes 450 tonnes of dry fruits such as pineapples, coconut, mangoes and papaya a year, has installed solar panels, in addition to a modern biogas plant that helps it generate up to 60 per cent of its energy needs from renewable sources.
Its huge production capacity means it has to source about 7,200 tonnes of fresh fruits – pineapple, mango and coconut – from local farms in a year.
Company officials told the GRAPHIC BUSINESS that it had to survive the low voltage power supply that came through a 200 kilovoltampere (kVA) transformer the Electricity Company of Ghana had installed to supply power to the factory at Adeiso, near Nsawam.
The company is tapping into the free sun with its thermal solar panels installed on the roof of the factory, to supply the dryers with heat.
The Managing Director of HPW Fresh & Dry Ltd, Mr Maik Blaser, said in addition, it generated its own biogas by blending pineapple peels with cow dung and poultry drops in an underground tank where they were mixed to ferment. The liquid was pumped into another chamber, a digester, for the generation of biogas.
Mr Blaser explained that the gas was then pumped into four balloons to be used for generation of power.
The electricity which is mainly used to power the dryers, cool storage facility and lighting, accounts for 60 per cent of the company’s electricity needs, while taking the rest from the national electricity grid.
The initiative has attracted the attention of state authorities, leading to the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) citing HPW Fresh and Dry along with two others as most innovative companies in this year’s Ghana Club 100 rankings and awards on October 18.
The Renewable Energy Act, 2011 (Act 832), among other things, promotes a policy by the Energy Ministry to achieve 10 per cent energy generation mix from renewable sources by 2020.
With feed-in tariffs now set, companies such as HPW which can easily scale up its renewable energy production could divert the excess into the national grid.
Originally set up in 2004 as fruit procurement and export company for European buyers, HPW had to set up its drying lines to diversify its business to reach the consumer market.
With huge capacity that makes it West Africa’s largest dried fruit factory, the Swiss company is only able to deploy about 60 per cent of its capacity, mainly due to unavailability of fruit supply from local sources.
It currently produces two tonnes of dried fruits a day or 14 tonnes a week, but can do more if raw material supply were available.
Mr James Obeng, in charge of Administration and Control at HPW, told the GRAPHIC BUSINESS that even with the low capacity utilisation, the company relies on local smallholder farmers for 50 per cent of its pineapple needs and 70 per cent of mango requirements.
For this year alone, HPW Fresh and Dry has purchased about GH¢4.5 million worth of fruits from over 240 out-growers.
Farmers at a forum with the company also attributed their inability to produce to inadequate long term financing to fund the expensive pineapple and horticultural produce cultivation.
Mr Obeng said to keep the factory running, the company had been importing fruits from neighbouring countries such as Cote d’Ivoire, Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso and Togo.
HPW has also been forced to do backward integration by growing its own fruits; the company is currently getting 10 per cent of its pineapple requirements from its model farm.
By Samuel Doe Ablordeppey/Graphic Business/Ghana
The company, which processes 450 tonnes of dry fruits such as pineapples, coconut, mangoes and papaya a year, has installed solar panels, in addition to a modern biogas plant that helps it generate up to 60 per cent of its energy needs from renewable sources.
Its huge production capacity means it has to source about 7,200 tonnes of fresh fruits – pineapple, mango and coconut – from local farms in a year.
Company officials told the GRAPHIC BUSINESS that it had to survive the low voltage power supply that came through a 200 kilovoltampere (kVA) transformer the Electricity Company of Ghana had installed to supply power to the factory at Adeiso, near Nsawam.
The company is tapping into the free sun with its thermal solar panels installed on the roof of the factory, to supply the dryers with heat.
The Managing Director of HPW Fresh & Dry Ltd, Mr Maik Blaser, said in addition, it generated its own biogas by blending pineapple peels with cow dung and poultry drops in an underground tank where they were mixed to ferment. The liquid was pumped into another chamber, a digester, for the generation of biogas.
Mr Blaser explained that the gas was then pumped into four balloons to be used for generation of power.
The electricity which is mainly used to power the dryers, cool storage facility and lighting, accounts for 60 per cent of the company’s electricity needs, while taking the rest from the national electricity grid.
The initiative has attracted the attention of state authorities, leading to the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) citing HPW Fresh and Dry along with two others as most innovative companies in this year’s Ghana Club 100 rankings and awards on October 18.
The Renewable Energy Act, 2011 (Act 832), among other things, promotes a policy by the Energy Ministry to achieve 10 per cent energy generation mix from renewable sources by 2020.
With feed-in tariffs now set, companies such as HPW which can easily scale up its renewable energy production could divert the excess into the national grid.
Originally set up in 2004 as fruit procurement and export company for European buyers, HPW had to set up its drying lines to diversify its business to reach the consumer market.
With huge capacity that makes it West Africa’s largest dried fruit factory, the Swiss company is only able to deploy about 60 per cent of its capacity, mainly due to unavailability of fruit supply from local sources.
It currently produces two tonnes of dried fruits a day or 14 tonnes a week, but can do more if raw material supply were available.
Mr James Obeng, in charge of Administration and Control at HPW, told the GRAPHIC BUSINESS that even with the low capacity utilisation, the company relies on local smallholder farmers for 50 per cent of its pineapple needs and 70 per cent of mango requirements.
For this year alone, HPW Fresh and Dry has purchased about GH¢4.5 million worth of fruits from over 240 out-growers.
Farmers at a forum with the company also attributed their inability to produce to inadequate long term financing to fund the expensive pineapple and horticultural produce cultivation.
Mr Obeng said to keep the factory running, the company had been importing fruits from neighbouring countries such as Cote d’Ivoire, Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso and Togo.
HPW has also been forced to do backward integration by growing its own fruits; the company is currently getting 10 per cent of its pineapple requirements from its model farm.
By Samuel Doe Ablordeppey/Graphic Business/Ghana