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Terragen: celebrating 20 years of excellence

Unbelievable but true, it has already been 20 years since the inception of Terragen, Terra’s thermal power station. 20 years of tireless work, continuous growth and improvement, culminating to one goal: to make Terragen a greener and more sustainable power plant. To celebrate these 20 eventful years, we decided to take a look back at Terragen’s pivotal moments.

A few key dates

2000 : Terragen is born (formerly called the ‘Centrale Thermique de Belle Vue’)

2012 : The company makes a name change, ‘CTBV’ becomes Terragen

2013 : Terragen obtains a QSE certification (Quality – Safety – Environment), the first step towards achieving a greater goal

2015 : Terragen starts using sugar cane bagasse to generate electricity

20 years is worth celebrating!

For its 20 th anniversary, Terragen decided to organise three different events to mark the occasion. As the Terragen employees are the heart and soul of the company, the invitation was extended to those closest to them, their families. “It was extremely important for us to extend this invitation to our employees and their families” explains Zoe Clark, Administrative Manager at Terragen.

To start off the festivities on December 5 th 2020, Terragen opened its doors for a half-day event showcasing the plant in all its glory. During the visit, the families were presented a scale model of the Terragen plant and received a guided tour of the factory. The idea was to get them familiarized with the plant and explain the different types of tools used, as well as the raw materials exploited to generate power (coal, sugar cane bagasse, and sugar cane straw). The aim was simple, to unveil the mystery that surrounds the Terragen plant – mission accomplished! Safety, a pivotal matter at Terragen, is embedded in the company culture. As
such, an awareness corner was set up as a reminder of the importance of a safe working
environment.

The second event, an end-of-year celebration, took place on December 11 th 2020. Employees and their families were present for a festive evening, celebrating the history of Terragen, at the historic estate of ‘La Villebague’. Gifts were presented to employees who had been a part of Terragen’s journey from day one. A touching video montage dubbed ‘Down Memory Lane’ was projected, and featured Terragen’s greatest moments. All in all, it was an evening full of surprises, laced with emotion.

Finally, the celebrations ended with one final event… A sporty one no less! On January 21 st 2021, the entire Terragen team was invited to participate in a sports day – a half-day event dedicated to sporting activities, giving the employees the opportunity to compete against each other in good fun.

What does the future hold for Terragen?

If Terragen has already encountered a certain level of success in becoming a more sustainable plant, it has no plans on slowing down. There are a number of new and exciting projects in the pipeline – all with the long-term goal of making Terragen even greener and contributing to the fight against climate change.

“Our priority is to maintain the production of reliable and affordable energy for the CEB network, whilst continuing to grow our mix of renewable energies” says Jean-Marc Iweins, Power Plant Manager at Terragen. To bring this ‘green’ vision to fruition, the plant’s next few years will be devoted to a gradual transition – favoring renewable energies as an alternative to coal.

Here are a few examples of upcoming projects:

· Increase the yield of sugar cane straw to produce more electricity from it;

· Reduce the amount of humidity present in sugar cane bagasse as it leaves the factory, in order to produce more electricity from the same amount of bagasse;

· Improve plant efficiency – produce more energy from the same amount of raw materials, whatever they might be;

· Incorporate a solar power plant, to reduce the consumption of coal when there is sunlight;

· Introduce eucalyptus-type biomass fuels – cultivation has already started with Terragri – or even, recycled wood.

We can’t wait to see what the future holds!

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