The City of Cape Town is currently focused on renewable energy purchases and generation, and other energy efficiency interventions to reduce the dependence on Eskom over time.
The successful implementation of the “Waste to Energy” project is an important milestone in the journey towards overall sustainability as the City is nearing the production of electricity from landfill gas.
Alderman Grant Twigg, Mayoral Committee Member for Urban Waste Management, and Councillor Beverley Van Reenen, the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Energy visited the Coastal Park Landfill site in Muzienberg on Tuesday, 15 March, to monitor the progress on this Waste to Energy project.
“Engines have been delivered to site, and are currently in the process of being connected to the landfill gas extraction system that has been operational since March 2018. It is expected that the project will generate approximately 2MW that will be added to the City’s grid,” a statement explains.
Even though only a small amount of electricity will be produced at this stage as 2MW is a very small fraction of the City’s total demand, it’s an important step forward in the City’s mission to reduce reliance on the state power utility and meeting emission reduction targets over time.
“The project works on the combustion of landfill gas, which is primarily made up of methane, which has a global warming potential 25 times greater than carbon dioxide. Perforated pipes or ‘wells’ are dug into the landfill site to extract the gas. The wells are then connected to the flare compound where it is combusted or diverted to a gas engine to generate electricity. If gas is not used in the engine, it will be flared,” the City adds.
This project has been designed in a way that the City can earn ‘carbon credits’, which is attained when an entity destroys one ton of greenhouse gas, that would otherwise be released into the atmosphere, and they can be sold as emission offsets under the carbon tax through the Carbon Offset Administration System.
“We are prioritising energy sector reform and climate change mitigation, which remain of great importance given our country’s energy constraints and the changing energy governance landscape. The City remains committed to all new ways of thinking to ensure that our city is future-fit. Waste-to-Energy is the ultimate form of energy efficiency and we welcome this initiative,” said Councillor Van Reenen.
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Picture: City of Cape Town