The project, according to the Managing Director, Lagos Waste Management Authority, Mr. Ola Oresanya, will generate energy from large dump sites and landfills across the state.
He said, "We have succeeded in producing electricity from waste at the Ikosi Fruit Market. It is already generating electricity and we are going to scale that up in all markets in Lagos. The largest quantum of electricity is going to come from the Olusosun landfill in Ojota, which will be a minimum of one megawatt; we are looking at about five megawatts from that site, which we can scale up because the site has a potential for about 25 to 30MW.
"If you look at the combined potential of energy we can generate from waste in Lagos, it is more than 50 megawatts, which is enough to lighten up a small village. There will be energy from our transfer loading stations, which will be programmed in such a way that the tonnage of waste that moves to those sites will incorporate thermal conversion into electricity."
He said LAWMA was also building gas capture wells at the Olusosun landfill for the production of electricity.
"The Ojota landfill is about 20 years old and has over 30 million tones of waste buried in the land; it is turning into an asset for us. From July, we will start the process of getting certification from the French government on carbon credit for the site. It was recently turned into a Clean Development Mechanism project published on the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change carbon credit page. It is the fifth CDM project registered in Nigeria," he said.
The managing director said the state also had plans to begin recycling waste into secondary raw materials and had commenced the development of a recycling plant at the Solous landfill.
"The Solous landfill at Igando is a potential asset too; we have commenced a development there, which is a materials recovery project. And talking about recycling, we have the biggest compost plant in Africa located in Ikorodu, producing compost," he said.
Oresanya said the plans were part of LAWMA's 15-year road map, which began in 2005, adding, "Lagos should be able to turn 60 per cent of all waste materials into secondary raw materials; right now, we are at about 15 per cent, and we are working on meeting the target."
Source: The Punch
Interesting...