‘Explore biogas for power generation’
The Managing Director of EnD-I Osam Energy and Environment Consulting Limited, Ms Ulrike Daniel, has underscored the need for Ghana to put in place measures to promote its biogas production for power generation.
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According to her, although biogas was another sustainable form of energy generation, certain factors must be put place to promote its efficient production.
These factors include the availability of enough organic manure, policies to generate interest in energy efficiency issues, as well as how to make industry become environmentally conscious.
Ms Daniel was speaking in Accra at the second West Africa Clean Energy and Environment Exhibition and Conference 2013 (WACEE 2013) on the topic, “Green Gas: Practical concepts for reliable, sustainable energy supply in Ghana.”
Biogas is a renewable energy source produced by the breakdown of organic matter in the absence of oxygen. It can be produced from regionally available raw materials such as recycled and food waste and is environmentally friendly.
She said waste from both humans and local industries could produce electricity that could be fed into the national grid instead of adding it up to the heap of sewage that the country currently produced.
The Chief Executive Officer of Biogas Technologies Africa Limited, Dr John Afari Idan, a panellist, said a major challenge of biogas production in West Africa had to do with understanding the relevance of the biogas technology in Africa.
Citing abandoned biogas plants at James Town in Accra and the Puxin biogas plant in Kumasi, Dr Idan said there was the need to develop a culture of maintenance for those projects so they could become more beneficial in the long run.
According to him, after the plants stopped functioning, it had been left to rust because the local contractors were not involved in its planning, designing and construction.