CEF is investigating the use of wood-chip waste from forestry operations to produce clean, sustainable energy. (Image: Bell Equipment)

 

Busisiwe Nxumalo of CEF's Energy Development Corporation

The lush timber plantations and saw mills of South Africa's Garden Route will soon help generate clean energy. CEF (Pty) Ltd  and private company Carbon and Environmental Options (CEO) are investigating an innovative project that makes energy with few pollutants and emissions, while at the same time recycling waste - in this case, surplus wood chips.

Partnered with the Eden District Municipality and CEO, the project aims to take clean power generation a step further by incorporating a waste-to-energy component. If successful, the project will also be able to earn "certified emissions reductions" (CERs) in the international carbon market under the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism.

Such ventures go a long way to minimise South Africa's reliance on coal-fired electricity, a dependency so heavy that SA is among the world's top 20 greenhouse gas emitters - astonishing for a developing country. The project also has the potential of supplementing electricity supply in the Southern Cape, a region increasingly hit by power outages. More than this, municipalities in the region are fast running out of waste-disposal options as space for landfills becomes more limited. These problems are so pressing that other municipalities, such as Mossel Bay, are closely monitoring the progress of the project with an eye to replicating it if it is successful.

Key to the project is fluidized bed combustion (FBC), a technology gaining favour for its ability to minimise carbon emissions and other pollutants. Incineration - burning - of material normally releases toxic flue gases such as sulphur dioxide and nitrous oxide into the environment. But the mixing action of fluid bed combustion uses chemicals, usually dolomite and limestone, to absorb these dangerous chemicals.

The steam released during combustion powers a turbine that generates electricity with minimal atmospheric emissions. Any combustible material, from coal to waste, can be used. The Eden project aims to use the huge amount of surplus wood chips generated by the timber industry, so putting waste to good use.

CEF has chosen a modular design for the project, allowing the plant to be  disassembled and moved to another location if required. It is also versatile, allowing other combustibles to be used if the wood chips run out.

Although clean, this energy is more expensive to produce than coal-fired electricity: 50 000 tons of wood chips are needed for 9MW of energy. But some of this money can be recuperated through international carbon trading mechanisms. Such waste-to-energy projects enable South Africa to comply with the provisions of the Kyoto Protocol, whichis designed to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions of developed countries (Annex 1), while enabling SA to earn an income in the process.

Under the protocol's Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), the project would be able to claim CERs as it can prove that certain emissions were avoided. These are translated into credits which are sold to countries with emissions-reduction targets. Developed countries or companies exceeding their emissions targets buy these CERs to offset their greenhouse-gas output. This "carbon trading" is aimed at encouraging developed countries to provide the finance for sustainable development projects in developing countries, such as South Africa.

According to Busisiwe Nxumalo of CEF's Energy Development Corporation, which has a 49% stake in the project, the project is at the feasibility stage whereby information for the environmental impact assessment (EIA) is being drafted, and a Project Initiation Note has been submitted to the Designated National Authority (DNA) of the CDM office in SA.

"We are waiting for the DNA's letter of no objection and, once we have this approval, we can apply to the CDM international executive board to approve the CER claims," Nxumalo says. Once the EIA is completed, construction of the FBC plant will begin by July this year, and it is anticipated that operations will begin in 2008.

Another benefit lies in its job-creation potential. During the construction phase, 20 to 30 skilled jobs will be created, and 100 to 150 unskilled jobs. Once it is up and running, there will be 30 to 40 full-time jobs and 150 temporary jobs.

The Eden District Municipality has shown enthusiastic support for the project, and its legal team is currently drafting a power -purchase agreement that will stipulate the terms and price of buying the green power. This will be reviewed by CEF and CEO; projections are that it will be concluded by the end of March.