Construction on Bronkhorstspruit biogas plant to start in June

16th April 2013 By: Idéle Esterhuizen

Construction on the Bronkhorstspruit Biogas Plant (BBP) would start in June and be completed in the first quarter of next year, the project developer Bio 2 Watt says.

Founder Sean Thomas told Engineering News Online that the project, with an initial installed capacity of 3 MW, would reach financial close by the end of May and eventually ramp up to a 5 MW capacity.

He explained that the plant would make use of technology supplied by Danish company ComBigaS to generate energy through anaerobic digestion. Cattle manure will be the primary feedstock of the plant, with the rest consisting essentially of food waste.

Further, consulting engineering company Bosch Projects would provide engineering support for the project.

Thomas noted that the plant would be connected to State utility Eskom’s grid and the power sold to a large industrial offtaker in Pretoria.

The National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) this week cancelled the public hearing on the project’s generation licence application, which was scheduled to take place on April 16.

This came as Nersa had received no comments or objections to the project and no members of the public had registered to present or attend the public hearing.

In October 2011, Bio 2 Watt submitted a Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) carbon credit project description of BBP to the South African carbon credit authority, Designated National Authority (DNA) within the Department of Energy.

The following month, the DNA provided Bio 2 Watt with a letter of no objection, stating the project does not show conflict with the sustainability development criteria for CDM carbon credit projects.