Projecting the energetic potential and economic viability of renewable power generation from municipal solid waste: Indication from South African Provinces

• Published in: Energy for sustainable development 2022-12, Vol.71, p.352-367
• Main Authors: Alao, Moshood Akanni, Popoola, Olawale Mohammed, Ayodele, Temitope Raphael
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Combined heat and power; Economic assessment; Municipal solid waste; Renewable energy generation; South African provinces; Waste-to-energy technologies
• ISSN: 0973-0826
• DOI: 10.1016/j.esd.2022.10.010

South Africa's energy strategy has an ambitious target of installing 17.8 GW of renewable energy by 2030. Waste-to-energy has started playing an important role in the recovery of renewable energy from municipal solid waste. The contribution of waste-to-energy techniques to meet this target is of utmost importance. As emerging techniques for renewable energy recovery, their viability for implementation requires technical and economic assessment. This paper, therefore, presents assessments on the energy recovery potential and economic viability of four waste-to-energy technologies for South African Provinces. Some of the main findings indicated that Gauteng Province generated 14.170–46.929 million tons of waste while Western Cape Province generated 5.760–15.555 million tons of waste within the stated timeframe. The power generation potential for Gauteng Province was 537.67 TWh and 230.90 TWh for Western Cape Province. Economically, anaerobic digestion was most feasible in all provinces as it returned the highest positive NPV ranging from $ 25.87 million in Eastern Cape Province to $ 3002.8 million in Gauteng Province while incineration was infeasible as it produced negative NPV in all provinces. The sensitivity analysis showed the sale of heat and electricity under special tariffs and lower discount rates returned positive NPV for all technologies. This research could be useful to potential investors and policymakers at the planning stage of waste-to-energy systems for South African Provinces. •Waste generation potential was determined using a linear correlation of population, GDP and waste generation per capita.•Energetic and economic potentials of AD, INC, GAS, and PYR technologies were assessed for South African provinces.•Sensitivity analysis was conducted to show the impact of financial metrics on the economic viability of the project