Mannheim, December 08, 2015
Since October 10, 2015, four Cat CG170-12 400 V biogas engines have been generating green power from organic waste in Bronkhorstspruit, South Africa.
Caterpillar Energy Solutions made the gas engine with a total output of 4,600 kWel available to the owner Bio2Watt via the Cat dealer Barloworld Power. The South African energy service provider Bio2Watt designed the plant together with the South African planner Bosch Projects and delivers the green power generated by the gas engines to the factory of BMW South Africa in Pretoria.
With this project, Bio2Watt, a pioneer in the field of renewable energies, has thus rolled out the first commercial-grade biogas project in South Africa with the crucial assistance of Barloworld Power and Caterpillar Energy Solutions.
Waste to Biogas, Biogas to Green Power
The plant has been set up at a cattle farm in Bronkhorstspruit in the vicinity of Pretoria, enabling the South African BMW factory to generate 25 to 30 percent of its electricity requirements from renewable sources. The biogas that is used for the energy production comes from organic waste from the agricultural sector and the food industry. Every day, 400 to 500 t of organic waste are supplied and form the basis for the fully sustainable energy production. However, it takes about 30 days for the substrates, such as cow manure and waste from dairy products, to deliver both biological fertilizer for agricultural use and biomethane, which the Cat biogas engines use as fuel for the energy production.
Details of the energy production process and other important information on the construction and operation of the plant are presented in the following video:
https://youtu.be/moUsxjOFvYU