LAUSR

In 2015, South Africa faced an acute electrical energy crisis. As a result, the country imposed load shedding to meet the peak electrical energy demand of the population. Coupled with this are concerns over the environmental impact of electrical energy generation from coal, which contributes about 60% of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions. Renewable energy technology, specifically anaerobic digestion for producing biogas is increasingly gaining impetus as a solution to augment energy supply and mitigate climate change. This theoretical analysis investigated the annual biogas production potential of liquid and solid agricultural waste and the agro-processing sectors. The annual waste generated for each waste stream was primarily obtained from the National Agricultural Statistical database and the data analysed spanned over a period of 5 years. Liquor industry (clear beer and wineries) was found to have the highest potential in biogas production of about 35 × 106 cubic meters/year and the least potential was by pig farming of about 0.02 × 106 cubic meters/year. In total, an average of 86 × 106 cubic meters of biogas can be produced from the investigated sector’s industries. This is equivalent to 148 GWh of electrical energy, which is twice the set 2030 target for biogas (75 GWh) in South Africa. Therefore, using biogas technology to generate electrical energy from the investigated sectors can augment the country’s energy supply.