NOV 2012 PRESS RELEASE

IMMEDIATE RELEASE

FORMER UK ENERGY MINISTER HEADS BIGGEST JOINT VENTURE WITH CUBA FOR 50 YEARS THE CUBAN GOVERNMENT HAS APPROVED ONE OF THE BIGGEST JOINT VENTURES INVOLVING A BRITISH COMPANY IN ALMOST HALF A CENTURY, IT WAS ANNOUNCED IN HAVANA TODAY.
Zerus SA, a member of the AZCUBA group and Havana Energy Ltd have entered into a joint venture to build a first 30 MW biomass power generation plant at Ciro Redondo a sugar mill 400 kilometres from Havana.. The joint venture, the first in this sector, will develop the pilot plant at Ciro Redondo while the agreement also extends to four further plants based on the islands sugar plantations.

The First 30MW biomass plant

Cuba today has a low percentage of its energy needs supplied by renewable energy sources and the Cuban government is committed to increase this figure substantially in order to reduce dependency on fossil fuels which form part of the policies for the development of the economy. The AZCUBA group and the National Electricity Board have a strategy to increase power generation in all its operating sugar mills to decentralise the grid and provide power generation in areas which currently have weak supply. The joint venture will invest approximately between US$ 45- 55 million in the pilot plant and it is hoped that electricity generation at Ciro Redondo will begin by 2015. The chairman of Havana Energy, former UK Energy Minister Brian Wilson, said: I have a longstanding personal commitment to normalising commercial relations with Cuba and I hope that this Joint Venture will encourage other British companies to take an interest in the country. It is exactly three years since the concept of this project was formed and it is a tribute to the Cuban authorities that we have reached this point within a reasonable

timescale while allowing them to ensure that all of their own legitimate interests and objectives are safeguarded.
The power plant will be fuelled partly from bagasse waste from the sugar mill during the harvest season and marabu - an invasive woody weed that covers large areas of the country - for the rest of the year. Mr Wilson said that work being done on marabu has the potential to turn a major problem for Cuba into a valuable asset. The Presdident of Zerus , Camilo Hernandez Gonzales, commented The agreement we have completed is a complement to the national investment efforts and the process of recuperating the sugar cane production in our country. In the last few years, in agreement with various actions approved by the Cuban government, the sugar sector has increased production by 20% and reopened 11 sugar mills. Along with the actions already taken in the achievement of the economic guidelines approved for the country, this new agreement will increase the advance of recuperating the Cuban agro industrial sugar sector and will be a new benchmark for the development of renewable energy from biomass A great amount of work has been carried out in the commercial application of marabu, including the opportunity to create a high value activated carbon by-product A trial to learn how to harvest, chip and package marabu will be underway by the beginning of next year.

Havana Energy, CEO, Andrew Macdonald said.After working together with Zerus for three years, this approval is an exciting moment for this great project. Generating low carbon energy saving on diesel - , producing more sugar, clearing marabu from fertile land, employing people....it provides multiple value and for all concerned is a privilege to work on. Both Havana Energy and Zerus extend their thanks for the support to a variety of Cuban and UK organisations: the Cuba Initiative, Scottish Development International, the Scottish Agricultural Colleges for their assistance as well as Strathclyde and Sheffield Universities for their continued research into the opportunities with marabou and activated carbon.

For more information on Havana Energy or the Cuban Renewable Energy visit www.havana-energy.com or please contact info@havana-energy.com