Golder Associates landfill gas specialist Dr Robert Gregory recently visited South Africa in a bid to ascertain and promote the window of opportunity that currently exists for the development of landfill methane recovery projects in the country.

A paper published by Jean Bogner and Catherine Lee in 2004, entitled “Landfill Gas Recovery in South Africa: Status, Issues, and Markets”, estimates that the available energy resource from landfill methane emissions in South Africa is approximately 0.2–0.4 Tg/year.

Dr Gregory says that South Africa has the resources to develop into a burgeoning landfill gas market.

Currently, only a few projects exist in South Africa, in comparison to the more than 1 000 commercial projects that have been operational worldwide since 1975.
Dr Gregory, however, says that the potential for large-scale landfill gas developments in South Africa is vast, and that these developments could serve as a solution to filling the impending energy gap.

He notes that the increase in electricity tariffs in South Africa and the clear difference in the green tariff price is going to be one of the key drivers that encourage large-scale landfill gas sites in South Africa.

The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) allows developed countries such as South Africa to meet their emissions reduction requirements through the purchase of carbon credits from CDM projects.

One such landfill gas project in eThekwini sells carbon credits to the World Bank Prototype Carbon Fund (PCF). It has been reported that the two landfill sites in eThekwini – Marianhill (west of Durban) and La Mercy (north of Durban) – contain about 2.7m3 and 1.2m3 respectively of disposed municipal solid waste.

The electricity generated from this project would be sufficient to supply about 1 000 suburban homes and 3 000 low-cost homes, which would have originally required the use of about 15 000 t/y of coal.

Energy Forecast previously reported that the two sites are expected to generate R33.9 million in income from combined sales of electricity and certified emissions reduction credits, commonly known as carbon credits. Moreover, the plants will drastically cut greenhouse gas emissions, alleviating global warming.

The eThekwini project has raised the visibility and illustrated the viability of South African landfill methane CDM projects.

Dr Gregory has been working in the landfill gas sector for over 22 years, in both the United Kingdom and abroad.

“The United Kingdom’s landfill gas sector experienced a slow start, and then with government investment went through a steep ramping-up and eventually began to level out; we are now at saturation point and have an extremely mature market,” says Dr Gregory.

“The landfill gas market in the United Kingdom is one of the oldest and has consistently been delivering the base load of renewable energy for over the past
20 years.”

He adds that in contrast, South Africa is a young, fresh market that could use what was learnt by the UK in its early stages of developing landfill gas sites. “South Africa doesn’t have to reinvent the wheel, and go through any of those intermediate steps which the United Kingdom had to go through all the pain of learning. We can now take a holistic view and look at landfills and the degree of engineering and decide on the best method,” says Dr Gregory.

“The renewables field is a small sector; as a result, information is traded and learnt. Waste management companies are now global players and talk to each other across continents. This is similar to communication between small renewable energy companies.

“There is no reason as to why South Africa should make the same mistakes that the United Kingdom made 20 years ago,” he explains.

The Landfill Gas Specialist

Dr Gregory’s career in landfill gas includes the development of various models, including the commercial GasSim integrated risk assessment model.

He was a co-author of the ETSU/Department of Energy/OfGas “Landfill Gas Safety Guidelines” in 1992 the and Construction Industry Research and Information Association (CIRIA) guidance on “Remedial Engineering for Closed Landfill Sites” (C557) in 1999.

Dr Gregory was on the steering panel of CIRIA R149 and C659/C665.

He co-authored Agency guidance WM2 “Hazardous Waste” in 2003, and was lead author for drafts of the 2004 Environment Agency documents “Guidance on Landfill Gas Management” and “Guidance on Gas Treatment Technologies for Landfill Gas Engines”.

In 2006 Dr Gregory represented the UK Government on the drafting of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fourth Assessment Report. This report led to the IPCC being jointly awarded (with Al Gore) the Nobel Peace Prize 2007.

He has performed applied research in methane emissions and landfill gas combustion plant emissions for the regulator and for industry. He has managed and directed many hundreds of landfill gas assessments for resource assessment purposes, waste management licensing and permitting, and building protection purposes.

Dr Gregory has been involved in a large number of due diligence projects for waste management and landfill gas energy portfolios.

He has experience of expert witness advocacy and training at various levels including CPD, local authority and regulator training. He has also been an independent arbitrator and has represented landfill operators in court over alleged lateral migration and odour impacts.

Golder Associates is a ground engineering and environmental services firm with more than 7 000 people who operate from more than 160 offices located throughout Africa, Asia, Australasia, Europe, North America and South America. Dr Gregory is Golder Associates’ client sector leader for renewables in the Power Sector and the Gas, Air and Noise Group, and is based at the company’s Nottingham office in the UK.

The Power Sector supports power, mining, oil and gas, manufacturing, real estate and infrastructure clients by providing environmental consulting and engineering services to develop sustainable solutions related to power generation and transmission, energy infrastructure development and operations for non-renewable and alternative technologies.

The Air and Noise Group is one of the largest and most diverse air quality, acoustics, noise and vibration consulting groups servicing a wide range of clients.