S13 ATR NOV 2021 Waste Mangement_ATR - New Master Template 2016 28/10/2021 09:54 Page 48
ENVIRONMENT | WASTE
Waste-to-power projects gather momentum Across the continent, waste-to-power projects to curb solid waste issues and produce energy are becoming more popular. Mwangi Mumero reports
Image Credit: Cambridge Industries
The Reppie Waste-to-Energy Project has processed over 520,000 tons of waste in the first year (over 95% of all waste destined for landfill in Addis Ababa) and put more than 180,000,000KWhrs of net electricity into the national grid.
W
ith its mounting solid waste issues, Nairobi Metropolis is one of many African cities that has been attracting investment in projects that use biomass to produce energy. The city produces about 3,000 tons of solid waste per day. Already, preliminary works for the Kibera waste-to-energy project have been completed for construction of the 10 MW plant which will convert municipal solid waste, crop residue and livestock waste to biogas and fuel ethanol for the generation of electricity. Kibera is Kenya and Africa’s largest informal settlement
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and receives approximately 1,000 tonnes of solid wastes per day and the project, to make use of this resource, is expected to cost US$197mn upon its completion. Four years ago, Asticom Kenya
Ltd, the firm behind the project, received US$995,000 from the African Development Bank’s (AfDB) Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa (SEFA) to conduct a full detailed environmental and social impact
The planned diversion and use of municipal solid waste is set to have significant health, social and development outcomes.” AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK
AFRICAN REVIEW OF BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY | NOVEMBER 2021
assessment, detailed engineering designs and provide project-related legal and advisory services as well as financial and transaction advisory services. “The planned diversion and use of municipal solid waste is set to have significant health, social and development outcomes, and will be of benefit to the inhabitants of Kibera, a community that receives 1,000 tonnes of municipal solid waste daily from the Nairobi County,” said AfDB at the time. SEFA is a US$90mn facility funded by the governments of Denmark, United Kingdom, United States and
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