Salford company switches on South Africa’s biggest landfill gas generation scheme
Salford-based Ylem Energy has switched on South Africa’s biggest landfill gas-to-power project.
Ylem’s South African subsidiary ENERGY Systems has begun generating renewable power at the Robinson Deep landfill site in Johannesburg – providing enough green electricity to supply more than 5,500 homes.
This is the first stage of Ylem’s £7.2 million investment in five landfill gas generation plants in Johannesburg – and is the largest project of its kind ever developed in South Africa.
Local communities will benefit from a 2.5% profit share in the five facilities via ENERGY Systems’ Community Educational Trust.
The ambitious project has taken eight years to develop and the City Council of Johannesburg has been a joint partner throughout. The Council will share in revenue generated via a 20-year power sale agreement.
The five facilities will produce a maximum 11MW of renewable energy, which could reduce the city’s carbon footprint by approximately 459,034 metric tonnes per year – by replacing electricity generated from fossil fuels. This carbon dioxide saving equates to the environmental benefit of removing more than 153,000 cars from the roads, or the carbon dioxide that would be offset by a 434,524 acre forest – bigger in size than Johannesburg.
A second phase of future development could increase capacity and renewable energy output at three of the active landfill sites.
David Cornish, General Manager of ENERGY Systems, said: “We are very proud to work with our partners to begin commercial operation of South Africa’s largest and only independent landfill gas-to-power project. This will bring much needed renewable power supplies to the country and make an impressive contribution to greenhouse gas reduction.
This is one of many landfill gas generation projects globally by our parent company Ylem Energy, which has manufactured, installed and operates in excess of 150 MW of biogas power generation.”
Further information: www.ylemenergy.com
