Ravello (Italy): June 16 - 19, 2015     SOCIAL COST-BENEFIT ANALYSIS OF SMALL-SCALE BIOGAS PLANTS IN RURAL LIMPOPO     Paper prepared for presentation at the 19th ICABR Conference “Impacts of the Bioeconomy on Agricultural Sustainability, the Environment and Human Health” Ravello (Italy): June 16 - 19, 2015 Authors: Tichaona Pfumayaramba1, and David Tinarwo2 1Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness, 2Department of Physics University of Venda, South Africa tichaona.pfumayaramba@univen.ac.za

Introduction South Africa faces a serious energy crisis. With a total generation capacity falling short of current demand – there are currently frequent experiences of load shedding There is still close the 30% of households without electricity the mojority being in rural areas Rural electrification is necessary from developmental and equity perspectives (Marquard et al, 2007)

Intro cont. It is clear that it will take a while for ESKOM the power utility to meet this demand and expand the grid to non-electrified households Households without electricity rely on alternative sources to meet their needs – cooking, lighting, heating Given this scenario, various government agencies have taken an interest in alternative energy sources Renewable energy – wind, solar, biogas – are all options being explored Alternatives available to rural households – firewood, LP gas, paraffin, charcoal, In rural Limpopo small scale biogas plants are being piloted – Dept of physics at University of Venda

Current Energy Sources in Study Area

Renewable Energy has the potential to address not only the energy needs of rural communities, but it must also can contribute to poverty eradication, public health & environmental sustainability and stimulate economic development.

Firewood sales

Firewood Usage

Limpopo Project One of the pilot sites is a Women’s Co-operative center running a creche. Presently firewood worth R1000.00 is bought from local suppliers every month and used on open fire-three stone stove system to prepare food for the 250 children and the 24 adults working at the co-operative. In addition to firewood cooking, the co-operative uses up to 48 kg of bottled gas per month - R900.00.

Biogas Digester Installation

Pilot Project Site 3200 layers chicken it rears year round. Each bird producing about 0,09513kg of droppings per day, [ASAE standard D384.1, 1992] a total of about 304kg of wet manure is produced every day The center needs approximately 7m3 of gas to completely replace the firewood and LP gas. 2 x 6 m3 fixed dome prefabricated Agama bio-digesters were installed and coupled Supply one burner in the kitchen about 30 m away. Each digester container can produce a maximum of 2m3 of biogas every day - equivalent to 4 hours of burning time /0.8 kg LPG, or 3.5kWh continuous electrical output. The biogas is captured and stored within the tank.

Socio-Economics of Small-scale Biogas The purpose is to conduct a cost benefit analysis of the installation of small-scale household biogas digesters when the household incurs the initial investment cost. Methodology Current household expenditures on energy Investment cost for technology Saved costs after implementation Valuation of health benefits Valuation of environmental benefits Valuation of by-products from digester

Some Data from one Pilot Center

Challenges Wide spread acceptance of the technology -Need for education for rural customers to understand the technology & wider benefits e.g. public health, environment etc. The technology is quite costly for rural households – initial investment cost Livestock numbers required to make technology viable From research perspective – data collection and management of records Valuation of non-financial benefits – public health, environment, by-products Value added from by-products

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