MALI – Energy Solution Systèmes, has received approval from the Bamako City Council to implement solid waste-to-energy project in the district of Bamako in Mali.
The facility will be built by Energy Solution Systèmes. Piloted by the Bamako City Council, the solid waste energy project will initially inject 40 MW of electricity into the grid of the public company Energie du Mali (EDM).
In addition to the production of electricity, the project developed in Bamako will provide the beginning of a solution to waste management in Bamako.
Waste in the Malian capital is incinerated in open (and often indiscriminate) dumps or left in the open without any proper management system in the six councils of the district. This can be a source of groundwater contamination/pollution, methane emissions, and the attraction of flies and mosquitoes that transmit diseases to people living near the dumps.
“We will also acquire two dump trucks as part of the decentralised cooperation with the metropolis of Lyon, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of France,” said Camara Fatoumata Traoré, the first deputy mayor of Bamako district.
According to Africa Reports, in 2019 Mali produced 1,600 tonnes of waste per day. The Malian capital Bamako alone produces around 17,000 tonnes of plastic waste every year.
To clean up the city, the Malian government is multiplying initiatives in favour of the development of the circular economy.
Thrown to the wind after use, plastic packaging could, according to scientists, take almost 200 years to decompose. It is therefore a long-term pollution factor that poses a real danger to flora and fauna. Plastic waste also clogs up sewage systems and encourages flooding during the rainy season.
Waste to energy (WtE) is probably the world’s least discussed form of sustainable power generation – attracting much less attention than wind, solar, hydro, geothermal or even tidal energy.
Yet the quiet success of WtE projects in Europe has not escaped the notice of ambitious investors who believe the technology could also work for Africa.
As Europe’s WtE market approaches saturation, Africa is an obvious next step.
Energy demand in the continent is predicted to rise by 127% by 2040, according to BP’s Energy Outlook 2019, with electricity demand almost tripling and the share of renewables in Africa’s fuel mix growing from 1% today to 16% over the same period.
There are significant challenges in developing WtE projects in countries with little or no organised waste collection. This is compounded by a scarcity of finance and, in some countries, political instability.
