WtE in Africa.
The population of Sub-Saharan Africa is growing at 2.7% a year - more than twice as fast as South Asia (1.2%) and Latin America (0.9%). Many experts agree that if the current growth rates continue, the continent’s population will more than double by 2050 to exceed 2.5 billion people, representing more than a quarter of the world’s total. This growth is uneven with some countries, such as Uganda, Niger, Equatorial Guinea, Angola, DRC, Burundi, Mali and Chad experiencing population growth exceeding 3%.
In conjunction with this rapid increase in population, annual economic growth in the region is expected to exceed the 2019 global average of 3.2% over the period to 2050. Excitingly, the world’s five fastest growing economies in 2019 were all located in the region: Ghana (8.8%), South Sudan (8.8%), Rwanda (7.8%), Ethiopia (7.7%) and Côte d’Ivoire (7.4%).
A well observed trend dictates that more affluent societies tend to produce more waste. Similarly, as societies become more affluent, the composition of waste changes, from a majority share of organic material with a low calorific energy, to a majority share of inorganic product, such as plastics, which possess higher calorific energy. Coupled with the fact that there will be significantly more people producing this waste, over the coming decades Sub-Saharan Africa is set to face a growing waste issue.
In parallel, energy hungry economies and a growing population will see the continent’s energy requirements increase dramatically. For example, according to BP’s 2019 Energy Outlook, energy demand in Sub-Saharan Africa is predicted to rise by almost 130% by 2040, with electricity demand tripling. Fulfilling this energy requirement in a sustainable way presents a similar large-scale challenge to waste management.
The convergence of both these issues presents a significant opportunity for Waste-to-Energy (WtE) technologies. By exploiting the potential of the growing feedstock sources and their higher embodied energy, WtE can offer a sustainable waste disposal solution while fulfilling Sub-Saharan Africa’s growing renewable energy requirements in an environmentally, socially and economically attractive way.
Financing, constructing and delivering WtE projects in countries without sophisticated refuse collection and developing energy markets presents a challenge. To date, WtE projects have been constructed on the continent in countries including Ethiopia, South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya. These projects are generally at grid scale and provide highly valuable case studies of the technology’s deployment under an array of unique conditions not otherwise seen in other projects globally.
With the advent of a number of highly scalable smaller micro- and industrial-scale WtE systems, Afrecycle Energy has identified a significant opportunity to offer decentralised WtE projects for private and public sector producers of waste - something not readily available at the moment.
These WtE projects can cost effectively dispose of a wide range of organic and inorganic wastes while producing energy in the form of gases, such as hydrogen, fuel oils or electricity, which can be sold or used onsite. These offtakes can secure a supply of cheap energy or be sold to generate income for the private or public venture.
The impact of the technology can be profound. Click below to find out more.