Metro turns rotting waste into electricity
The project, still in its planning stages, is estimated to cost the municipality R22 million
THE metro is planning to create its own electricity by using rotting waste at its landfill sites.
Currently, one megawatt of power is generated from the Simmer and Jack landfill site which is transmitted to the Wychwood Substation in Germiston, consequently relieving the pressure on the national grid, Themba Gadebe, metro spokesman, said.
The project, still in its planning stages, is estimated to cost the municipality R22 million and may be implemented at the Rietfontein landfill site in Springs, the Weltevreden landfill site in Brakpan and the Rooikraal landfill site located in Boksburg.
“It may look like a mere dumping site but the Simmer and Jack landfill site in Germiston may be an answer to the current electricity shortage in the country, Gadebe said.The site possesses a commissioned biomass power plant used by Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality to generate electrical energy through rotting waste.
In heeding the call by South Africa’s power utility to reduce the demand of energy on the national grid, Ekurhuleni is looking into expanding this clean energy initiative that turns waste into usable products such as methane gas to produce electricity.
Once refuse has been collected from residential areas and businesses around the municipality, it is discarded into a berm to prevent the litter from blowing. The waste is then compressed in order for it to decompose and create methane gas.
The gas is then collected through pipes that feed it directly to the flare where it is burnt to generate electricity.
“This process is not only a solution to the challenge of space for waste disposal but capturing methane before it gets into the atmosphere helps reduce the effects of climate change and minimise the effects of airborne sicknesses caused by air pollution from landfills,” Gadebe said.
As part of its future plans to generate its own clean energy through alternative resources, the metro plans to duplicate this biomass power plant to generate 2MW of power in other landfills sites in Ekurhuleni.
