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KARACHI, July 18: After a decade-long wait, work on a biogas project to generate electricity and fertiliser from dung is to commence as soon as it is registered with the United Nations’ Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) for carbon credits. However, the process of registration may take up to two months.
Located in Landhi’s Cattle Colony, the project is being overseen by Empower, a New Zealand-based development consultancy, and the National Engineering Corporation (NEC). Investors are expected to be taken on board shortly.
Referring to delays in the launch of the project, Empower representative Tony Woods said that carbon credits’ registry with the UNFCCC takes time and construction will be initiated once this is accomplished. The project will be operational in 20 months.
According to NEC representative Feroze Shah, the project cost may be as high as $90 million. The process of identifying investors has already been initiated, while dairy farmers have agreed to sell dung at 10 to 12 paisas per kilogramme.
He explained that under the Kyoto Protocol, limits are set on the amount of carbon dioxide a country may produce. Each country then allots these “carbon credits” to different companies and in order to meet the emissions caps, companies trade carbon credits depending on the amount of pollution generated in their production schemes. “If the biogas project is accepted, the value of the carbon credits will be determined by the international carbon market,” said Mr Shah. “There is no fixed price and it is dependent on the normal supply and demand mechanism, but carbon brokers generally look for prices between $10 and $15 per tonne of carbon dioxide.”
Questioned about the provision of subsidised electricity to farmers, Mr Shah said that this is not possible because the distribution network is owned by the Karachi Electric Supply Corporation (KESC). However, he added, the supply of electricity to Landhi is expected to improve. “Farmers are currently spending a lot of money on power and water to flush out the dung,” he said. “This project will definitely improve their economic status and boost the local economy by providing employment. In addition, it will save the foreign exchange Pakistan spends on importing fuel and fertiliser.”
The Cattle Colony generates 7,200 tonnes of dung a day and this is currently drained into Korangi Creek which plays havoc with marine life and contaminates the food chain. Tests conducted on coastal waters have revealed dangerously high levels of chemical and biological contaminants.
The idea to set up a plant to produce electricity from organic waste has been around for a decade but there were difficulties in finding investors. Things changed when Pakistan acceded to the Kyoto Protocol and set up its Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) in February 2006, thus making the biogas project a strong contender for acquiring carbon credits.
The project agreement was signed in April this year and the city government allotted four acres to Empower and the NEC for the pilot. Under the project, methane from cattle waste will be converted into 25 mega-watts of electricity and 1,440 tonnes of organic fertiliser a day. According to Mr Woods, “the methane produced during the decomposition of dung is 21 times more harmful to the environment than carbon dioxide.
However, apprehensions run high among dairy farmers and many fear that the biogas project will never see the light of day. Voicing such concerns, Dr Rafiquddin Babar of the Dairy Farmers Association Karachi said that execution remains the crucial question since Empower and NEC require 100 acres for the main project but there are no vacant plots of such size in Cattle Colony.
