Waste to energy in Africa: new trends

The outgoing 2021 was marked by a rapid increase in waste-to-energy activity in Africa, with several recent projects inspired by new trends. It appears that interest in waste-to-energy has increased significantly. Several countries expressed their interest in incineration and pyrolysis.

Waste to Energy International (WTEI) received requests from traditionally active Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, and South Africa. What is a new tendency – a significant growth of waste-to-energy calls from sub-Saharan Africa: Nigeria, Ethiopia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya. It is not a coincidence that a large alternative energy fund, partnered with WTEI, has expressed an interest in sub-Saharan Africa, specifically. The region attracts the attention of serious institutional investors in the alternative energy sector. Their behaviour predicts a bright future for alternative energy development in the region.

Waste to energy in Africa and WTEI

Following the trend, WTEI successfully created a new project in Ethiopia to build, own, and operate a 680,000 tpa municipal solid waste-to-energy plant. The plant is expected to produce at least 40 MW of electricity and significantly improve the ecological situation in Addis Ababa. The capital of Ethiopia already has a waste-to-energy plant, Reppie, the first and only one of its kind in Africa. So, the Koshe plant shall become the second implementation of mass incineration technology in the country. The new plant facilities will provide pre-sorting of waste for their own needs and those of Reppie as well. Similar improvements will be made to the fly and bottom ash processing systems to meet the daily needs of the two plants.

At this moment, WTEI, together with local developer Covenant Engineering and investment developer OAK, has completed the feasibility study for the Koshe plant. Our team has estimated local conditions, location, layout, and equipment of the new plant. The short video below represents a 3D model of the new waste-to-energy plant.

Together with the esteemed multi-billion-dollar technology provider, we have developed a technical proposal for the plant, which includes both CAPEX and OPEX. The final run of the financial model confirmed that the project is feasible and can be successfully funded. OAK aims to commence investments within the next three months.

Current and new projects

Additionally, we continue to develop the first waste-to-energy plant in Egypt, which has garnered several publications on our blog. All documents for government signing are ready, including the power purchase agreement and concession agreement. As a result, we expect the signing by the relevant ministries early next year and the immediate commencement of funding.

In 2021, we also reached significant progress in one of the biggest African countries. The consortium created by WTEI has signed the preliminary documents for the construction of a 700,000-ton-per-annum (tpa) plant. We anticipate the commencement of the feasibility study shortly.

Therefore, we are looking forward to the future of waste-to-energy in Africa with great optimism. With strong investment funds on board, reliable local partners, and globally recognized technology providers, we plan to capitalize on the growing interest in waste-to-energy to enhance quality of life in Africa.