Though there has been bad news around load shedding starting again last month, a tender launched by Eskom on Friday 31 January might have slipped under the radar but in fact it is a massive positive step in the right direction.
Last month, the power utility issued a tender for the appointment of a biogas consultant to assist it with a potential biogas project in Mpumalanga.
Biogas is a green energy gas generated by processing organic waste through an Anaerobic Digester (AD plant) It is used world-wide in the generation of electricity, specifically in Europe where it is spearheaded by Germany who produces up to 10% of their national grid needs through this technology.
The power utility said in its tender documents that the appointment of a consultant was to support Eskom’s JET Office in developing and executing Biogas Plants in the Mpumalanga region.
In a statement regarding the tender announcement, the Southern African Biogas Industry Association (SABIA) said the project seemed to be around the mothballed Komati power station.
SABIA said such a project would be a good way to continue to employ people, who were working at Eskom’s aging fleet of coal powered power stations.
“The power station itself was the centre of controversy when Eskom mothballed it at the end of its life cycle. Eskom has since been working hard to offset the job losses and also to use the assets which are now stranded at the site. This is a very important solution for Eskom as a number of other stations around the same age are also approaching their end-of-life cycles.”
Finding a use for the Komati power station could have far reaching implications for the environment in the surrounding area.
“The start of the project would be a massive effort in terms of waste identification and quantification. It makes more sense to build large scale plants. Therefore, city centres such as eMalaheni, Bethal and others close to the plant with large concentrations of organic waste would be of interest for this type of project. This would be a huge assistance to these municipalities as they have a massive challenge in managing this waste stream.”
SABIA said though the issuing of the biogas consulting tender was only the beginning, it was a very positive move.
“This is Eskom’s first step in this direction and has many positive potentials for South Africa, not just improving the security of our power supply, but also large benefits in terms of jobs. It would further assist with agricultural security as the by-product of the process is a high-quality organic fertiliser.”
It added: “We look forward to seeing how the project goes, and SABIA salutes Eskom for this bold and positive step into the future.“
