• Gracia Munganga

• Waste Economy Programme Manager

• GreenCape

• South Africa

South African bioenergy/biogas sector overview and skills needs implications

1. Bioenergy background and status quo in South

Africa

2. Overview of the bioenergy industry in SA

3. SA Biogas industry challenges

4. SA Biogas market opportunities and drivers

5. SA Biogas industry support

6. SA Biogas industry skills & capacity building needs

Bioenergy background and status quo-SA

Energy

• Department of Energy (DoE)

Renewable Energy Independent Power

Producer Programme (REIPPP)

• DoE Biofuels Strategy and Regulatory

Framework (2014) 2% mandatory

blending in 2015

– Crop for fuel (Sorghum & sugar beet)

– Strong focus on rural development

• Biofuels strategy on hold (subsidy vs

competitive bidding)

Waste management in SA (1)

• Limited separation at source

• Landfill is still the common method of waste disposal

i.e. ~83-90% of solid waste (DEA, 2012)

• Cost of landfilling is relatively cheap e.g. R1900/ton

to recycle vs. R390/ton in Stellenbosch (Haider,2014)

• Legislation acting as a driver for diversion from landfill

disposal (National Environmental Management:

Waste Amendment Act, No. 26 of 2014)

– Landfill diversion target of 20% by 2019

– Potential ban from landfill disposal of certain waste streams (e.g.

liquid hazardous wastes)

• Limited availability of land for new landfill sites

(Stellenbosch & Drakenstein~3 years left)

Capacity Price

Biomass 25 MW R1.4/kWh

Landfill gas 12.5 MW 94 c/kWh

Biogas 12.5 MW 90 c/kWh

Waste management in SA (2)

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Sweden Denmark Germany France Netherlands UnitedKingdom

Canada South Africa

Landfilled Recycled Waste-to-energy Composted

Department of Science and Technology (DST), 2012

Municipal feedstock (s)

• Biological treatment

– Main feedstock: Organic Fraction of Municipal Solid Waste OFMSW)

– The potential for economies of scale located mostly in metros i.e. Johannesburg, Tshwane, Ethekweni, Ekurhuleni & City of Cape Town

• Sludge from wastewater treatments works (WWTWs)

Private/commercial feedstock (s)

• Biological treatment – Agricultural and agro-

processing wastes – Wastes from animal

husbandries (e.g. abattoirs i.e. blood, gutter, etc)

• Fuel replacement (combustion/co-combustion) – Bagasse: sugar industry – Agro-forestry wastes – Paper sludge

Bioenergy background and status quo-SA (2)

Anaerobic digestion

(next slide)

Landfill gas

• Joburg LGP (REIPPPP), 18 MW

• Marianhill, 1 MW • Bisasar, 6.5 MW

• 5 CDM UNFCC registered (8 pipeline)

Biomass-REIPPPP

• Mkuze (16 MW),

Kwa-Zulu Natal • SAPPI Ngondwana

(25 MW), Mpumalanga

Bioethanol

• Cradock (Sugar

beet, Eastern Cape)

• Mabele fuels (Sorghum, Free State)

• Western Cape Ethanol (Triticale)

Biomass

• Small scale biomass boilers (e.g. Nollen Group, Sustainable Heating)

Bioenergy Background and Status Quo-SA (3)

Overview of biogas industry in South Africa

• Small burgeoning industry in South Africa:

– 300- 400 digesters installed

– ±10 commercial plants, while the bulk are mostly domestic/rural units

• Biogas market elsewhere

Germany 3.35 GW installed, 7500 biogas plants (±45 000 jobs).

China 17 millions

India 12 millions

Lesotho 600

Overview of biogas industry in South Africa (2)

Domestic digester

• Size: <25 kW • Dome digesters

(concrete,e.g. TradePlusAid)

• Biobag (BiogasSA) • BiogasPro (Agama)

Large scale

• Size: >250 kW • Bio2Watt

(Bronkhorspruit, ±4 MW) • Johannesburg WWTWs

(±1.2 MW) biogas, Diepsloot

• CAE (600 kW, Darling) • Elgin Fruit and Juices

(500 kW)

Small-medium scale

• Size: 25-250 kW • CAE (30 kW,

Humphries) • iBERT (100 kW, Jan

Kempdorp)

• EnviroServ, Bellville plant

SA Biogas industry challenges

Access to finance (e.g. conservative finance institutions on perceived risks)

Environmental compliance: lengthy, cumbersome and expensive (1-2

years minimum)

Price of electricity generated typically higher than bulk price from

Eskom (~15-20 c/kwh higher)

Access to feedstock: complex municipal procurement process (can take 3-5 years

to develop a project)-MFMA, MSA

Access to the municipal grid, outside of the REIPPP-framework required

for EG

REIPPP not succeeded to boost the biogas market. However success

achieved with landfill gas & biomass

Cost of compiling bid too expensive (±R2-4 millions) & minimum size of

plants too big (e.g. 300 kW vs 1 MW)

Municipal sector Private/commercial sector

SA biogas market opportunities

Small-medium AD plants

(energy for own consumption,

waste management solution,

high value sludge), payback: 6-

11 years

-Animal husbandries

-Agro-processing wastes

Large scale AD projects

Organic Fraction of Municipal Solid

Wastes (OFMSW) e.g. City of Cape

Town (planning phase), Drakenstein

(EIA phase)

Biogas from Wastewater treatment

works (WWTWs)

Landfill gas to electricity

Minimum size: 1 MW for a viable

project (~R50 millions)

~10 potential upcoming projects

nationwide

Rural biogas/off-grid

energy solution

SA Biogas market opportunities-drivers

Small-medium biogas plants

Anaerobic digestion (AD)-

principally a waste

management solution

Potential ban of disposal of

abattoir wastes in landfills

beyond 2017

Large scale projects

Lack of landfill airspace & diversion

from landfill disposal

Landfill gas

Clean Development Mechanism

REIPPP from DoE

WTWWs

Energy efficiency (Jhb WWTWs

can generate 15-60% of energy

needs)

Rural biogas

Energy access & sanitation

3.3 million people still lack

access to electricity, where only

10% could be connected based

on costs (Qase, 2014)

SA biogas industry support

Southern African Biogas Industry

Association (SABIA)

Annual National Biogas Conference Four working groups Marketing, Legislation, Information gathering & administration Approached treasury for a review of biogas tariffs

GIZ

National Biogas Platform Four working groups: Vehicular biogas, Rural biogas, Small scale biogas and value of fertilizer Plans to support biogas in WWTWs (pilot municipalities) as part of DoE’s Municipal Energy Efficiency Programme (MEEP)

UNIDO Project proposal to the Global Environmental Fund (GEF) to support the biogas industry Focus on small-medium scale projects Projects in development phase to be selected Strong support for R&D and SABIA Dept. of Energy (DoE), Dept. of Trade and Industry (DTI), Industrial Development

Corporation (IDC), Dept. of Environmental Affairs (Climate Change)

Support structure output-legislation

• Guideline for environmental authorization requirements and processes developed by Cape EAPRAC (Louise_Mari van Zyl), available at: www.sabia.co.za

• 10 potential departments: ~2-3 years

• GIZ/GreenCape tool: Waste Treatment Guide, available online in Q3, 2015

Support structure output-financing

• Document outlining list of local and international financial institutions

• Accessible at: www.sabia.co.za

• Other information available: minimum project value, explanation notes (criteria to secure funding)

• Developed by National Biogas Platform (DTI and IDC), SANEDI and GreenCape

Types of funds Stage/Phase Target audience

Grants Phase I: project screening/conceptualizing/research

Private sector

Loans Phase II: project development Public entity

Municipal fiscus Phase III: project implementation/execution NGOs

Support structure output-WWTWs

• Spreadsheet to evaluate the financial viability of WWTWs, developed by WEC Projects for the National Biogas Platform

• Available on the SABIA website: www.sabia.co.za

Biogas sector-skills & capacity building needs

• Alignment of legislation, e.g. discrepancies between NEM:WA and NEM:AQA

• Norms & Standards (required for biogas, both for waste licenses and gas utilisation)

Simplified regulatory framework

• Represents an additional revenue stream ((R150-R500/ton), and can contribute (~30% revenue)

• Standards for compost/fertilizer -Department of Agriculture

Value of Sludge/effluent

• Limited facilities to test different substrates (biomethane potential tests, BMPs to determine the biogas potential)

• Monitoring performance-Plant operators/installers-(Design, construction, operation & maintenance)

• Active institutions: University of Cape Town (UCT), Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT), North West University and North West University

Training and Local R&D

Many thanks!

Questions?

Contact details

• Gracia Munganga/Quinton Williams – E-mail: gracia@green-cape.co.za/Quinton@green-cape.co.za – Tel: 0218110250

• SABIA, Mark Tiepelt/ David Cornish – Email:

chairman@biogasassociation.co.za/info@biogasassociation.co.za

• National Biogas Platform, Sofja Giljova

– E-mail: sofja.giljova@giz.de

References

• Department of Science and Technology (2012). South African Waste Sector – 2012 An analysis of the formal private and public waste sector in South Africa. A National Waste RDI Roadmap for South Africa: Phase 1 Status Quo Assessment. Department of Science and Technology: Pretoria

• Haider, S. (2014).Waste management in Stellenbosch entering a new era. Proceedings of the GreenCape Waste Economy Workshop, Cape Town (South Africa).Available from: http://green-cape.co.za/what-we-do/sector-development/waste

• Qase, N (2015). Rural Digesters and Off-grid • http://www.ipprenewables.co.za/