Maple Energy Hires Netafim

Maple Energy has hired Netafim Peru for the engineering, procurement and construction of a drip irrigation system. Maple will pay Netafim about $22m for the project. The system will irrigate an 8,000-hectare sugarcane plantation in Peru. This deal, which is part of Maple Energy’s $222m ethanol project, is funded with cash on hand, says CEO Rex Canon. The whole ethanol project, he says, is financed with internal resources and project financing, but he declines to say from which banks. The ethanol project should be up and running in October 2010 and will produce 35m gallons of fuel-grade ethanol and 37MW of electric power, of which half will be used by Maple Energy and the rest sold to the national electricity grid.