CONSIDERING the looming shortage of landfill sites in Gauteng, along with the country’s energy crisis, environmental consultants from SRK Consulting South Africa, together with Bio2Watt Energy Holdings (BEH), are developing a solution that promises to overcome both challenges. This solution comes in the form of an organic waste-to-energy biogas plant.
A recent audit of landfill sites in Gauteng showed that the province faces difficulties in applying traditional waste disposal methods. With extremely limited space remaining on existing landfill sites, there are few suitable locations for new landfill sites.
In the face of this concern about waste management, plans are now set in place for an alternative approach: creating biogas from waste. This allows government to reduce both the extent of landfill developments and the volume of methane entering the atmosphere.
BEH contracted SRK to conduct the environmental authorisation process, atmospheric emission licence application, and water use licence application – all of which are vital for the development to be appropriately developed, and for the infrastructure to be set in place.
According to Darryll Kilian, partner and principal environmental consultant at SRK Consulting, the BEH organic waste-to-energy biogas plant will be located on a 5 ha site at Sunderland Ridge, west of Centurion, and will generate baseload electricity for the national grid.
“The Sunderland Ridge biogas project is a great example of a project at the nexus of critical issues that face our society today, including how we manage our growing demand for energy, our increasing volumes of waste, and the reality of climate change – as well as food security,” says Kilian. “Operating as an energy producer by generating both electricity and gas, this facility will help the province face its landfill constraints while cutting methane emissions and creating natural fertiliser to promote organic agriculture.”
As construction began and infrastructure was rolled out, the environmental impact assessment (EIA) revealed that there is extensive dolomite under the area intended for construction, according to Tamaryn Hale, principal environmental consultant at SRK. With this in mind, adjustments in the initial design and planning for construction needed to be made, with dolomite specialist engineers, process engineers, and civil engineers working closely with SRK to attain achievable infrastructure goals.
Considerations also needed to be made regarding pipeline infrastructure, since the project creates the opportunity to produce and sell compressed gas. This required additional environmental licencing requirements, says Natasha Moodley, who is also a principal environmental consultant at SRK.
With a multidisciplinary team lending their in-house expertise, SRK has been able to conduct technical studies, such as social impact analysis, effects on surface water, air emissions, and noise pollution analysis. The project has also been received enthusiastically by all stakeholders, including local residents.
Infrastructure development is underway on this project, which complies with national regulations, as well as the International Financial Corporation (IFC) performance standard requirements.
