SUEZ and oil
Proven oil reserves, a non-renewable source of fossil energy, today amount to about 40 more years? worth of consumption, and their renewal appears to be an increasingly elusive goal. In addition to the traditional use of oil products for transportation, heating and petrochemicals, fuel oil is also used to respond to specific constraints related to the electricity sector. To begin with, it is used as ?ignition? fuel in most power stations. It is also used as ?reserve? fuel during peak demand periods when electricity production and consumption must be rapidly adjusted. Finally, it is used as the primary fuel in numerous small power stations located in areas where its availability and accessibility are a major asset (South America and the Pacific Islands).
Our know-how
Fuel oil is one of the historic fuels in the SUEZ Group?s energy mix; its availability and accessibility have helped ? and still help ? provide numerous consumers with widespread access to electricity. For example, the Group?s subsidiaries Edelnor and Electroandina operate several power stations that run on fuel oil in the Antofagasta mining region in Chile. With sustainable development becoming an increasingly important consideration, the SUEZ Group and its partners have been committed for several years now to modernizing their fuel oil power stations and to enabling them to make use of other sources of energy, such as biomass, on a rotating basis.
Conversion of a fuel oil power station in Vanuatu (South Pacific)
The SUEZ Group ? through its Unelco subsidiary ? has been a producer and distributor of electricity in Vanuatu (South Pacific) for more than 60 years. Faced with the soaring increase in the price of oil and its by-products, SUEZ Group engineers have sought out a local fuel, which would be more economical and require minimal investment, to operate the electric power stations on the island. ?Coco-fuel?, a mix of copra oil, which is widely available in Vanuatu, and diesel fuel, has thus been used since 2005 and has helped reduce the country?s dependency on imported diesel fuel. This substitute fuel has furthermore provided a stable income to more than 150 people who work on the copra plantations and in the local oil plants.
Key Figures
Oil today represents 8% of the SUEZ Group?s energy mix, behind natural gas (47%) and hydroelectricity (21%) in terms of installed production capacity. As of December 31, 2007, the SUEZ Group?s installed production capacity based on fuel oil was 4,638 MWe.