Waste-to-energy opportunities largely untapped in South Africa

By Professor Lwazi Ngubevana, Director: African Energy Leadership Centre (AELC), Wits Business School

When it comes to using biomass to create energy, South Africa lags behind many other countries.

This country has the capability, opportunity and infrastructure to generate bio-energy, and we have for some time, but we have lost momentum in recent years. One form of bio-energy is biogas, which can be created through agricultural or organic waste and wastewater treatment processes.

There are many examples where biogas projects have been developed for rural communities. And while some industries have also developed biogas projects, particularly in the automotive and food and beverage industries, these have been isolated cases. There have been significant developments in wastewater treatment technology for biogas production, but generally speaking, we have quite a long way to go until biogas becomes mainstream. Biogas is produced by the decomposition of organic waste separated at source. Plastics and wood undergo thermal treatment to produce energy.

Several municipalities are generating energy through waste, but this has been sporadic. The Ekurhuleni and eThekwini municipalities have developed landfill gas to electricity projects, but with more than 860 landfills in this country, this is the tip of the iceberg. The City of Johannesburg has long explored bio-energy through feasibility studies but is still to implement a project.

The leading players in waste-to-energy are Germany, Japan and India, among others. We have a long way to go to catch up. While there have been some successful projects in municipalities and private sector organisations, there needs to be an integrated, nationwide strategy.

One very successful example of a private-sector waste-to-electricity project is a partnership between BMW and industrial waste-toenergy company, Bio2Watt. The biogas twin-unit power station installed at its plant in Rosslyn has enabled BMW to generate up to 30% of its electricity requirements using renewable resources, primarily from agricultural or food waste.

This March, South African Breweries (SAB) also signed a powerpurchase agreement with Bio2Watt. The plant, once completed, will make use of waste collected from one of South Africa’s largest dairy farms, situated in Malmesbury in the Western Cape. This will come from slurry waste from more than 7 000 cows, as well as other waste from the surrounding region to produce electricity.

South Africa is blessed with an abundance of arable agricultural land, which presents almost limitless opportunities for the future production of agricultural biogas. In addition, there are opportunities to harvest alien crops such as water hyacinth to produce energy.

We have massive potential in this country to scale up our capacity to generate energy from crop waste and from growing energy crops. I believe the vast tracts of land in Southern Africa which lay fallow present massive opportunities for bio-energy, which has important implications for job creation.

The isolated successes in biogas production in this country mean we have the technology, the know-how and the resources. I believe government needs to create more of an enabling environment to open up the field to other players.

One of the problems is a lack of alignment when it comes to policy and legislation. We have laws guiding the water management sector, the agricultural industry, electricity and the like, to reduce emissions, but no overarching policy which would help develop our green economy more holistically.

The Integrated Resource Plan (IRP), which highlights the wide range of technology choices available in renewable energy generation, seems to over-emphasise wind energy.

Of course, there is solar too, but wind has been identified as the lower-cost option for renewable energy in the long run. I believe policy-making in this country has gotten too caught up in technology choices, but with a bias towards imported wind technology. Waste and agricultural-based technologies have not received as much attention.

There is also scope to develop the domestic/household biogas market, which includes small-scale farms and small holdings. Currently, there is no local manufacturer of biodigesters, meaning that individual homeowners or farmers have to import them. Another barrier, he says, is that in many communities, biogas is seen as a ‘poor man’s fuel’ and there is a perception that it is unhygienic.

A biodigester is a system that literally digests organic material but is a closed system and therefore does not emit odours or attract flies or other pests.

There is not enough being done to create awareness of this technology as a viable alternative for power generation, and there is no regulatory framework to support the development of the technology.”

With our current power crisis, I believe there is massive scope for developing the biogas industry. This is especially true in poorer communities or rural areas where there would be huge benefits from decreasing dependence on the national energy grid. There is not enough being done to create awareness of this technology as a viable alternative for power generation, and there is no regulatory framework to support the development of the technology.

In 2016, a project was launched by the University of Fort Hare and the Eastern Cape local government that saw the installation of 28 biogas digesters in villages in the Alice district. Several similar projects have been launched in rural schools and communities around South Africa, with mixed long-term success.

We need to take the biogas industry to new heights in this country in service of a greener economy. The benefits are significant, not only in terms of reducing emissions but also in a more reliable form of power generation when we are experiencing increasing blackouts. Biogas digesters are applicable in rural communities and urban and suburban contexts for domestic and industrial use. A more decisive legislative framework, increased access to the technology, greater awareness and a change of mindset will help boost biogas production, which could be an energy game-changer in South Africa.