Publications

This paper is a contribution to the UNCTAD conference on green and renewable technologies (February 2010).

Many people in developing countries rely on biomass, to meet their energy needs for cooking. Use of biomass is not in itself a cause for concern, but when resources are harvested unsustainably and energy conversion technologies are inefficient, there are serious adverse consequences for people's health, the environment and economic development. SNV acknowledges the use of biogas as sustainable energy source. An overview is provided of the scope of SNV's work in domestic biogas. Features of the technology, SNV's market-oriented approach and the involvement of the Nepalese Government are discussed in general and in the context of the Nepalese Biogas Support Programme (BSP).

The widespread adoption of biogas technology in Nepal is due to its modular and easy to construct design, its proven reliability, the immediate noticeable benefits and the long term financial incentives provided by the government and international donors. The early involvement and active entrepreneurship of the private sector has been crucial to the success. SNV emphasises this is its biogas dissemination approach, wherein impact is linked to capacity development targets, different sector functions are attributed to multiple organisations and a commercially viable biogas sector is the long-term goal.

Despite the economical, technical and social barriers discussed, the success of BSP evolves around institutional sustainability, technical sustainability and financial sustainability. And by introducing a strong quality management component to the programme, it helps to ensure that supply-side actors remain fully accountable to their customers.

This document presents the results of the feasibility study (by SNV and FAO) to set-up and implement a national biogas programme in Myanmar. 

In rural areas of Myanmar, over 90% of the people depend on biomass fuels, like firewood, for cooking. Especially women and children are exposed to harmful fumes in their kitchens when cooking with these fuels. Myanmar has a limited history in biogas: household plants providing fuel for cooking and basic lighting and community plants generating electricity at village level. Practices lack proper standardisation and different actors without proper coordination. 

The study concluded that the technical potential of biogas plants amounts to a minimum of 600,000 units. Increasing prices of firewood for cooking together with a large cattle population provide an opportunity for biogas production, especially in Central Myanmar. There’s a will and interest among (potential) stakeholders to be engaged in a national programme. 

The feasibility study provides  a tentative outline for a national biogas programme, with a long-term vision to develop a commercial, sustainable biogas sector, including the production of 3,600 household and 300 community biogas plants in three potential divisions of Central Myanmar (being Mandalay, Sagaing and Magway). 

The households and villages (37%) and donor organisation(s) (63%) are the proposed investors/financiers of the programme, while it is recommended that the Government of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar (GoRUM) provides policy support. Additionally, an earmarked credit fund for the financing of both household and community biogas plants will be required to tap the potential demand.

The overall objective of a domestic biogas programme is the dissemination of domestic biodigesters as an indigenous, sustainable energy source through the development of a commercial, market oriented biodigester sector. Revenue from carbon trading is sought to achieve this objective, because the technology reduces GHG emissions. This project design document form, describes the small-scale project activities of the CDM Project of Bagepalli Coolie Sangha in 2009.The purpose of this Biogas CDM Project activity is to set up 18,000 biogas plants (digesters) of 2 m3 capacity each for single households in 5 Taluks of Chickballapur District1 by the Coolie Sangha, and in this way replace Kerosene and Non-Renewable Biomass with biogas for cooking and hot water heating. These biogas units will be installed in a phased manner of 6,000 units per year for a period of 3 years. There are a lot of benefits for the families as described in the report.

It provides a technical description with an estimated reduction of emissions over the chosen crediting period, application of baseline and monitoring methodology including baseline development, project boundary, and a description of how the anthropogenic emissions of GHG by sources are reduced below those that would have occurred in the absence of the registered small-scale CDM project activity. The report focuses on different barriers and emission reductions. The application of a monitoring methodology, description of the monitoring plan, activity/crediting period, environmental impacts, and stakeholders’ comments are also described.

The overall objective of a domestic biogas programme is the dissemination of domestic biodigesters as an indigenous, sustainable energy source through the development of a commercial, market oriented biodigester sector. Revenue from carbon trading is sought to achieve this objective, because the technology reduces GHG emissions. This project design document form, describes the small-scale project activities of Hubei Eco-Farming Biogas Project Phase I.

The project aims to demonstrate innovative technical approaches and a credible carbon trade process for a household-based Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) biogas digester program. Through developing, building, and putting into operation biogas digesters utilizing pig manure as raw material, the project will reduce the greenhouse gas emission (GHG). In addition, the project will improve the local rural environment and household living conditions, including household health. The project area covers 625 villages in 81 townships in the 8 counties of Enshi, Lichuan, Jianshi, Badong, Xuan’en, Xianfeng, Laifeng and Hefeng counties.

It provides a technical description with an estimated reduction of emissions over the chosen crediting period, application of baseline and monitoring methodology including baseline development, project boundary, and a description of how the anthropogenic emissions of GHG by sources are reduced below those that would have occurred in the absence of the registered small-scale CDM project activity. The report focuses on different barriers and emission reductions. The application of a monitoring methodology, description of the monitoring plan, activity/crediting period, environmental impacts, and stakeholders’ comments are also described.

The overall objective of a domestic biogas programme is the dissemination of domestic biodigesters as an indigenous, sustainable energy source through the development of a commercial, market oriented biodigester sector. Revenue from carbon trading is sought to achieve this objective, because the technology reduces GHG emissions. This project design document form, describes the small-scale project activities of the CDM Project of Kolar Biogas Project in 2008.

The purpose of this Biogas CDM Project activity is providing biogas units to households in rural areas of Kolar District in Karnataka State in India. The project encompasses 10,000 households in all five Taluks in Kolar District – Srinivaspur, Kolar, Mulbagal, Malur, and Bangarapet. In each of the 10,000 households covered by the proposed project a family size biogas unit will be installed. The biogas unit will be of either 2m3 or 3m3 capacity depending on the number and type of cattle owned by the household and the number of people in the household.

It provides a technical description with an estimated reduction of emissions over the chosen crediting period, application of baseline and monitoring methodology including baseline development, project boundary, and a description of how the anthropogenic emissions of GHG by sources are reduced below those that would have occurred in the absence of the registered small-scale CDM project activity. The report also focuses on ex-ante calculation of emission reductions. The application of a monitoring methodology, description of the monitoring plan, activity/crediting period, environmental impacts, and stakeholders’ comments are also described.

This poster, developed by SNV and the Ministry of Water and Energy (MINEE), provides an overview of common operation and maintenance problems with biogas plants in Cameroon, their causes and potential solutions. The problems mentioned relate to:

-       Biogas production and leakage

-       Stove and flames issues

-       Slurry in piping system and smell

-       Cooking time

The poster also provides an overview on the quantity of feeding materials needed for initial and daily feeding of the biogas digester (in sizes 4m2, 6m2, 8m2 and 10m2), as well as hours of projected appliances usage.

[A summary will be added soon.]

This concept note is based on the feasibility study of a national domestic biogas programme in Sri Lanka (2011), conducted by People in Need (PIN) in cooperation with SNV Netherlands Development Organisation.

The note proposes the Sri Lanka Domestic Biogas Programme (SLDBP) to be implemented, forming a foundation for commercialisation of biogas technology in the country in the long run. SLDBP, in the first phase, will help to improve the quality of life of family members in 3,150 households, roughly 14,000 people, by introducing modern household cooking methods.

Biogas plants will substantially reduce the costs of purchase and/or time spent on collecting firewood for cooking, especially by women. The time saved will enable them to carry out income generating activities such as growing vegetables, education, care of children, taking part in a social live etc. It will also reduce the time needed to clean up cooking pots, utensils, and houses blackened by firewood smokes. The by-product, the bio-slurry, is a potent organic fertiliser that reduces the expenses for chemical fertilizers, or produces incomes when sold to other farmers.

SLDBP will also help create a commercially-driven biogas market and generate jobs for local labourers to help masons build biogas plants and provide operation and maintenance services to biogas plants. Various actors from the government and civil society sector at central and local levels will be able to promote the use of biogas. The note details on proposed key activities and provides an indicative budget and financial sources as well contact details.

This study presents the first assessment of the need and potential of biogas in Africa by relying on macrodata.

Study findings revealed that the technical potential of domestic biogas has been estimated based on two indicators: number of households with access to water and number of domestic cattle per household. Based on these indicators, the technical potential has been determined to be 18.5 million installations.
Since this value does not provide a complete picture on its own, development, energy, health & sanitation and environment have also been assessed, and a Biogas Feasibility Index (BFI) has been suggested for each aspect. The specific indicators used to arrive at a BFI, providing an indication of the situation of each aspect area relative to domestic biogas are thoroughly described in the report.

As for development, the calculated BFI indicated South Africa, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Tanzania, Gabon and Equatorial Guinea as having high technical potential. Energy aspect findings indicated that central Africa faces serious domestic energy crisis, for which the technical potential of these countries could alleviate the problem. Health and sanitation aspects showed that all countries in central east-west of Africa suffered major problems in this aspect, where the technical potential once again could alleviate the situation. The environment aspect can be seen as a necessity rather than as feasibility, as domestic biogas can only play a small role in improving the situation.

Based on this analysis it has been concluded that large-scale biogas programmes' success is highly uncertain.

Asia is the centre of domestic biogas development, with the People’s Republic of China having installed more than 42 million units (by the end of 2011) and India about 4.4 million units (by the end of March 2011) based on strong government support.

With support by SNV Netherlands Development Organisation, market-based national programmes have started in eight Asian countries. By the end of 2011, more than 430,000 biogas plants were installed.

More than fifty different organisations currently cooperate in the Working Group on Domestic Biogas convened by SNV under the Energy for All Partnership (E4ALL) initiated by the Asian Development Bank (ADB). The objective of this group is the construction of one million domestic biogas plants across fifteen Asian countries by 2016, providing access to sustainable energy to five million people.

More recently, efforts on the generation of carbon credits from national biogas programmes have resulted in success for among others Cambodia, India, Nepal and China. The question is if and how carbon financing can be further increased in these countries, but also applied in other countries with a sizable programme.

Against this background, SNV and the Biogas Institute of the Ministry of Agriculture (BIOMA) of China, in cooperation with the ADB/E4ALL, are organising an International Workshop on Domestic Biogas in Chengdu, China.

This document presents the monitoring report of the the small-scale project activities of Hubei Eco-Farming Biogas Project Phase I. The project aims to demonstrate innovative technical approaches and a credible carbon trade process for a household-based Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) biogas digester program. Through developing, building, and putting into operation biogas digesters utilizing pig manure as raw material, the project will reduce the greenhouse gas emission (GHG).

In addition, the project will improve the local rural environment and household living conditions, including household health. The project area covers 625 villages in 81 townships in the 8 counties of Enshi, Lichuan, Jianshi, Badong, Xuan’en, Xianfeng, Laifeng and Hefeng counties. The purpose of the monitoring report is to calculate and clarify the emission reductions achieved by this project activity for periodic verification. This monitoring report covers the activity from February 19 2009 to August 31 2009 as the 1st monitoring period.

Approved methodologies Version 12 of AMS-I.C titled “Thermal energy for the user with or without electricity” and Version 01 of AMS-III.R titled “Methane recovery in agricultural activities at household/farm level’ were applied. Further background on this project can be found in the Project Design Document (PDD) and associated documents, which is available on the UNFCCC website: http://cdm.unfccc.int/Projects/DB/TUEV-SUED1218669721.67/view.

The per-capita energy consumption of Nepal ranks among the lowest worldwide and the supply is largely biomass based. To cater for the increasing energy demand as a result of both population growth as well as general development, renewable energy sources will play a significant role in the near future. Properly introduced renewable energy sources often offer appreciable side-effect regarding production efficiency, system sustainability or health and sanitation as compared with traditional energy. Evidently, improper introduction can easily defeat possible advantages, or even turn them into disadvantages.

This document aims to analyse relevant aspects of rural energy mix in order to facilitate proper policy development for the Netherlands Development Organization regarding its Renewable Energy Support Programme.

The proposal has been divided over three separate volumes:

- Volume I introduces Nepal in relation to –mainly domestic- energy, analyses the sector’s opportunities and threats, and attempts to conclude by proposing general conditions for development of rural energy supply;
- Volume II addresses the domestic biogas sector. It mirrors the biogas technology against the development criteria as proposed in Volume I and proposes a follow up of the current biogas support programme in a final phase to assist on the one hand the technology to become a main source of rural energy supply, and on the other hand to strengthen the institutional set up of the sector;
- Volume III follows the same regime as the biogas volume, but for a programme to improve Nepal’s traditional water mills (Ghatta’s).

The document leans heavily on secondary information.

This document presents a Project Design Document form (GS-VER-PDD) version 3 for Nepal. This template of the PDD is applicable for micro-, small-, and large scale projects. The project activity is called WWF Nepal Gold Standard Biogas Voluntary Emission Reduction (VER) Project Version 03. Under the proposed project activity, the World Wildlife Fund Nepal (WWF) aims to sell carbon credits generated from 7,500 biogas digesters plants in Nepal’s Terai Arc Landscape (TAL) project area, and use renewable biogas energy to replace the heavy consumption of fuel wood in this area for cooking. Another objective of this project is to enable (VERs) from the project to reduce Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions by displacing conventionally used fuel sources, such as fuel wood and kerosene, for cooking. Credits from generated emission reductions will be owned by WWF Nepal Program. The project will contribute to local development in many ways described in the report. The methodology is indicative programme, baseline, and monitoring methodology for Small Scale Biodigester Voluntary Gold Standard. The baseline scenario chose is the pre-project situation. This report contains the following chapters:

• General description project activity
• Application of a baseline methodology
• Duration of the project activity/ crediting period
• Application of a monitoring methodology and plan
• Estimation of GHG emissions by sources
• Environmental impacts
• Stakeholders’ comments

Information on how to complete the PDD and how to obtain Gold Standard registration can be found in the project developer’s manual available on the Gold Standard website.

This short document presents the Project Idea Note (PIN) of the CDM program activity 1 in Central Punjab, Pakistan. Pakistan Domestic Biogas Programme (PDBP) (Central Punjab) aims to construct 18,000 domestic biogas plants at household level. The proposed CDM program activity is the first CPA of the Pakistan Domestic Biogas Programme CDM Program of activities (PoA). The PoA envisions a period of 10 years to establish a commercially viable biogas sector with the target of installing 300,000 biogas plants in Pakistan. Rural Support Programmes Network (RSPN) is the managing/ coordinating entity of the PoA.

The program will be implemented through a modular approach and the technologies used in the CPA are domestic biogas digesters of fixed dome type. The project will be located in Faisalabad, Tobatek Singh, Sargodha, Jhang, Khushab, Chiniot, Mianwali, Bhakkar districts of the Punjab province of Pakistan. Further, the report presents: the anticipated total amount of greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction compared to the “business-as-usual” scenario (which will be elaborated in the baseline later on at Project Design Document (PDD) level) ; the suggested crediting life time; the suggested Certified Emission Reductions (CERs)/Emission Reduction Units (ERUs)/Verified Emission Reduction (VERs) price in US$ or € /ton CO2e reduced; the financial structuring (indicating which parties are expected to provide the project’s financing; and the project’s other socio-economic or environmental effects/benefits.

The Energy for All Partnership (E4ALL) was launched in June 2009 at the Asia Clean Energy Forum in Manila as a response to the challenge of regional energy poverty. The Partnership provides a platform for cooperation, knowledge and technical exchange, innovation, and project development, bringing together key stakeholders from business, financial institutions, governments, and non-government organizations. The Partnership is focused on action, with a goal to provide access to energy to 100 million people in Asia and the Pacific region by 20151.

SNV Netherlands Development Organisation was invited by the Steering Committee of E4ALL to lead a Working Group on Domestic Biogas. The objective of this Working Group is the innovative dissemination of 1 (one) million domestic biogas plants in about 15 Asian countries by 2015/2016, providing access to sustainable energy to about 5 million people. In addition, the Working Group aims to make an important contribution to the development of sustainable, commercial biogas sectors in these countries.

This paper provides the Terms of Reference (ToR) for the establishment and operation of an Expert Group in this field. An earlier version of this ToR was commented by over 20 practitioners. In addition, an international workshop was conducted on 21 and 22 April 2010 in Dhaka to further elaborate the ToR.

The objective of the Expert Group is to provide the E4ALL Working Group on Domestic Biogas with informed recommendations on technical innovation on domestic biogas plants to reduce costs, to increase reliability and to meet untapped market demands.

The overall objective of the first phase of the National Biodigester Programme (NBP) is the dissemination of domestic biodigesters as an indigenous, sustainable energy source through the development of a commercial, market oriented biodigester sector in eight selected provinces of Cambodia. Revenue from carbon trading is sought to achieve this objective, because the technology reduces GHG emission. This report is a version of the Gold Standard Passport, Version 8, completed in 2011 under the NBP in Cambodia.

The overriding aim of the Gold Standard is to promote investments in energy technologies and energy management techniques that mitigate climate change, promote (local) sustainable development, and are directed towards a transition to non-fossil energy systems.

The report consists of eight sections:
• Project title
• Project description with objectives and contribution to sustainable development
• Proof of project eligibility; with project type and gold standard aim and maps
• Unique project identification; with GPS coordinates of the project location and geographical and spatial map
• Outcome stakeholder consultation process; assessment stakeholder comments and feed-back round.
• Outcome sustainability assessment; “do no harm” assessment and sustainable development matrix
• Sustainability monitoring plan
• Additional and conservativeness

This document presents a Project Design Document form (GS-VER-PDD) version 4 for India. This template of the PDD is applicable for micro-, small-, and large scale projects. The project activity is called Hassan Composite Vermicompost Biogas Project. The project has acquired financial aid to construct 516 plants on the basis of the VER market. The emission reductions form the vermicompost units are not being taken into account in the project activity. The purpose is to provide a 2m3 fixed dome (Deenbandu model) biogas plant and a vermicomposting unit to 516 families in the villages of Arakalgudu Taluk, Hassan District, Kamatake state, India. The families were selected from the total number of families in the district and interviewed if there is enough livestock available. The project will contribute to sustainable development of India in many ways described in the report. The methodology is indicative programme, baseline, and monitoring methodology for Small Scale Biodigester Voluntary Gold Standard, with the pre-project scenario with supressed demand chosen as the baseline scenario. This report contains the following chapters:

1) General description project activity
2) Application of a baseline methodology
3) Duration of the project activity/ crediting period
4) Application of a monitoring methodology and plan
5) Estimation of GHG emissions by sources
6) Environmental impacts
7) Stakeholders’ comments

Information on how to complete the PDD and how to obtain Gold Standard registration can be found in the project developer’s manual available on the Gold Standard website.