BIOGAS PERSPECTIVES IN SOUTH AFRICA

Abstract

. HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF BIOGAS INDUSTRY IN SOUTH AFRICA: Records of early biogas projects in South Africa are rare but some record presents that a Britisher built the world’s first commercial biogas plants on his pig farm in 1957 which was able to generate electricity from the produced biogas in 1958 (Biogas - South Africa's great untapped potential, 2016). In 1980s, waste water treatment facilities started using biogas technology (DoE, A report on the first National Biogas Conference, 2013).  In the later-half of the 2000s, biogas technology received more attention in South Africa. The work on the Bronkhorstspruit Biogas Project (BBP) started in 2007. In 2008 and 2009, biogas project developers AGAMA Biogas and BiogasSA were set up, respectively (BiogasSA, About Us, n.d.; AGAMA Energy, n.d.). Meanwhile the South African Red Meat Abattoir Association (RMAA) started considering biogas technology as an alternative waste processing solution for abattoirs.  It generated interest from Morgan Abattoir (Goemans, Roxanne (2017) - Groenewald, Interview Morgan Abattoir II, 2015). In 2011, to stimulate renewable energy in South Africa, The South African government launched the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Program (REIPPPP).  REIPPPP worked successfully for wind and solar energy but it did little for biogas energy so the Department of Energy (DoE) decided to reach out to Southern African Biogas Industry Association (SABIA). In 2012, BiogasSA held one of the first biogas workshops in South Africa and it was realized that the industry needs active representation. SABIA was founded as a result of the biogas workshops held by BiogasSA in 2012, (BiogasSA, About Us, n.d.).  In October 2013, to determine the potential of the biogas industry; the Department of Energy, SABIA and the Development Bank of Southern Africa held the first national biogas conference (Odendaal, 2013) which led to the establishment of the South African National Biogas Platform (NBP). The NBP falls under the South African-German Energy Programme (SAGEN), financed by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and executed by the DoE (GIZ, Renewable energies and energy efficiency for a greener future, n.d.). This platform aims to connect the relevant stakeholders of the South African biogas industry for identifying and addressing the barriers to the industry.  National Biogas Platform (NBP) aims included to determine regulatory requirements and financing options for biogas projects; and addressing lessons from existing projects (GIZ, National Biogas Platfrom Meetings - Kickoff meeting, 2013). Till the start of 2^nd national biogas conference in 2015 ,the industry had meanwhile made progress and one of the breakthroughs included the development of two biogas combined heat and power (CHP) plants at the Johannesburg Northern Waste Water Treatment Works (WWTW) (DoE, A report on the second National Biogas Conference, 2015). Moreover, the development of a National Biogas Strategy had commenced.