The first large scale biogas plant linked to a beef feedlot, could make a more significant contribution to renewable energy in South Africa than the planned 3.8 MW of electricity, by advancing the technology in South Africa.

The Business
Independent power producer (IPP) Lesedi Biogas Project (LBP) is planning to build one of the world’s largest open-air feedlot manure-to-power plants, in Heidelberg, near Johannesburg, South Africa. Such plants use the anaerobic fermentation (bacterial fermentation of organic waste, with little or no oxygen present) to produce a methane rich gas which can be used to produce electricity or burn for heat.

The plant will be situated at the Karan Beef feedlot, which will supply the manure from its feedlot to the LBP. This would initially amount to 110,000 tons per year of manure, which would allow the production of 3,8 MW of base-load power reaching 6,2 MW of peak power.

The project would cost about $15 million to develop and could be completed within 18 months of the finances being finalised. It is, therefore, expected that it would likely be operational by about mid-2011.

Nunda Naidoo, a spokesperson for LBP, said that the company intended to sell the power to the government-owned electricity generator, Eskom under the renewable energy feed-in tariff (Refit) agreement with the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA).

NERSA is finalising the second set of feed-in tariffs, which will include a tariff for biogas and the necessary implementation systems. These will need to be in place before LBP can secure finances and start construction.

The Opportunities and Effects
Methane, which is a byproduct of much biological decomposition, is a very potent greenhouse gas having an effect of up to twenty times that of CO2. Processes such as biogas from manure which collect and utilise the methane that is inevitably released by anaerobic fermentation, have a very positive environmental impact.

Anaerobic digestion is essentially a waste disposal process as well as a renewable energy producer. It forms part of many applications besides manure treatment, such as:

In rural areas without water and electricity it can process human waste producing gas for heating, an effective sanitation system while reducing methane emissions.
In the abattoir industry it can convert waste animal byproducts reducing disposal casts and providing energy.
In the food industry it reduces waste disposal costs, provides process heat and reduces methane emissions
In municipalities it can generate methane in sewage treatment processes as well as in landfill operations
The successful implementation of this first commercial sized biogas plant in South Africa will hopefully increase the focus on and understanding of the opportunities of this technology, while establishing the Power Purchase Agreement mechanism necessary to allow producers to sell their energy.

Source: GO Media - Written by Dave Harcourt - Photo by Kjkolb on Wikipedia under a  Creative Commons license