Biomass energy is currently the largest renewable energy
contributor in South Africa, estimated at about 9 percent
(some data indicates as high as 14%). Most rural households
and several hundred thousand low-income urban households
rely on fuelwood for cooking and space heating. Biomass
by-products are used in boilers by the sugar and paper
industries to generate electricity. The South African
government and other large stakeholders are currently
developing the capacity to produce liquid fuels from
biomass, with an estimated potential of 20 percent of
the national liquid fuels requirement (45.7 PJ). The
production of bio-ethanol, for possible use as a safer
household fuel, is also receiving increased attention.
Extensive use of biomass raises significant environmental
concerns. The large-scale use of bioenergy would require
vast areas of land to be converted to ‘energy
crops’.
Landfill sites generate methane gas as a result of
the decomposition of the biomass components in municipal
waste. Landfill gas has a potential for 7.2 TWh of
electricity generation, perhaps growing to 10.8 TWh
by 2040. If the gas were to be used for process heat,
then the energy extraction would be higher.
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