Feasibility study of Biomass power plant fired with maize and sorghum stalk in the Sub-Saharan region: the case of the northern part of Cameroon

Year 2019, Volume: 3 Issue: 3, 102 - 111, 20.09.2019

Biboum Alain Christian , Ahmet Yılancı

https://doi.org/10.26701/ems.493188

Cited By: 4

Abstract

This feasibility study
essentially consists in the evaluation of the energy potential of the crop
residues biomass in the northern province of Cameroon for the electricity
production instead of the use of thermal power station using fossil resources.
The site assessment, transformation process and conversion of agricultural
biomass are presented in the structural methodology based on Payback period,
Levelized Cost Of Electricity (LCOE), Internal rate return and electricity
generation technology respectively. In addition, during this study, an
investigation of potential sites in the regions identified was conducted to
determine the factors that have a direct impact on the quality of electricity
production for local populations. This analysis contributes to solving problems
that may affect the development of industrial activities, the optimization of
production and marketing of food products. This work focused on municipalities
in the cities of Faro, Mayo-Rey and Benue, which are respectively Poli, Bouki,
Tcholleré, Toroua, Amdoumré and Tcheboa. During this study, the total
investment cost was estimated at 874.5 million US dollars for a 270MW capacity
installation distributed in the above-mentioned municipalities. The levelized
cost of electricity in the municipalities ranges from 6.81₵/kWh to 12.9₵/kWh.
The work carried out has shown that the application of the bonus Carbon
(51.6$/MWh) on the Biomass power plant would allow the realization of the
projects on the indicated sites. While the absence of this carbon bonus will
have a negative impact on the electricity generation capacity in the
municipalities of Bouki and Tcholleré by causing a loss of 72.778GWh/year and 137.331GWh
/ year respectively. At the same time, it is important to note that, the sites
with the greatest potential in terms of investment are in the communes of Bouki
and Tcholleré for a payback period around 6 years and LCOE close to 6.81₵/kWh
and 6.98₵/kWh using sorghum respectively. An extensive study suggests not
mixing crop residues in these communes. The municipalities of the city Benue
revealed an estimated production potential of 636.6GWh, for a LCOE value
between 7.66₵/kWh and 8.20₵/kWh and a payback period less than 6.5 years.

Keywords

Biomass power plant, LCOE, bonus carbon, , payback period

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