City of Cape Town budgets 86 million to generate electricity from landfill gas

Image: Pixabay@J_Blueberry

A truck seen collecting waste in an area.

The City of Cape Town says it has budgeted 86-million rand for the next three financial years for the operation and maintenance of a landfill gas flaring system at the Vissershok Landfill.

This as the city works on plans to generate electricity from landfill gas.

Organic matter that ends up in landfills decomposes in the absence of oxygen and forms landfill gas that is rich in methane.

Mayoral Committee Member for Urban Waste Management, Grant Twigg, says to reduce emissions from the landfill, “wells” are dug into the landfill site to extract the gas.

The wells are then connected to the flare compound where it will be combusted and in the future be diverted to a gas engine to generate electricity.

We are nearing the first production of electricity  from landfill gas turbines at Coastal Park landfill in the coming months, and the first issuance of carbon credits for landfill gas flaring at Belville South landfill is expected this year”  he further added. .

Twigg reiterated that ” although the expected contribution of waste-to-energy activities is not sufficient to reduce loadshedding on their own, the reduction in emissions is significant and will be achieved effectively at no additional cost to the ratepayer”.