Enabling Access to Sustainable Energy

Project details

008 Biogas generator product package and market survey

Project partner

Research Center for Energy and Environment (RCEE) , Vietnam
Consulting Center for Renewable Energy ( CCRE) , Vietnam

Project status

Completed 2008

Project description

At present there is a big development of biogas utilization in rural areas. Since 1990 years there were some biogas programmes implemented under the management and sponsor of the government and international organizations. The last and biggest biogas implementation is the Vietnam Netherlands Biogas programme sponsored by DGIS and implemented by SNV and managed by the ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. The first phase of this programme has been completed with installation of 20,000 biodigesters. At present the second phase is planning to develop ten times more of 200,000 biodigesters over nearly 60 provinces in Vietnam.

The market is starting to be developed in Hung yen province with the evidence of selling 100 units by D&D company , which is based in Hung Yen province.

The technology for Electricity production using biogas is a new proven technology in Vietnam. The technology can improve environment protection by using biofuel (biogas) instead of fossil fuels. There are existing two technologies of electricity generation by biogas:

(1) Implementation of special designed electricity generators using biogas and

(2) Implementation of new or reconstruction of second-hand electricity generators using gas and gasoline fuel for using biogas,

The technology using for the first kind has been proven and implemented largely in China. A generator has been shown to ETC delegation last year when it attended the EASE International Partnership Seminar in Thanh Hoa Province. The energy efficiency in electricity production is rather high however the cost of special designed generator is still high.

The technology using for the second way is implemented in some places in Vietnam. One of the private companies, the Vietnam D&D Company Ltd is conducting biogas digesters and installing bio electrical generators for agriculture farms and household in some provinces of the North of Vietnam.

Both these technologies could be implemented and diffused in Vietnam but they should be more proven in term of stable market and ability of replication. A pilot project on bioelectricity under the EASE Programme would identify the potential and ability of implementation of these technologies for access to sustainable energy.

The methodological approach to reach this objective has following steps:

Identification of a proven and sustainable technology for energy access for poor population
Testing the market appetite based on the demonstration models and a brief biogas users survey in two provinces.
Design a pilot model ( Technological, Managerial, Socio- Economical and Environmental) for a selected pilot site
Monitor the performance of two types of systems installed (measuring gas pressure, keeping records of generator use (time), measuring electricity consumption and calculating savings made to be able to improve the estimated pay back period).
Implementation of the pilot model for at least one year with regular controlling and checking the results of the model (monthly by phone, bi monthly by field visit).
Follow up with trouble shooting, both on technical as well as monitoring part.

Learning questions

What are the differences between the Chinese and adjusted ordinary generator technology in terms of consumers and users perception?
What is the difference in financial feasibility of the two technologies used?
What are the barriers for users in applying the biogas-electrifications in rural areas?
What are the technical lessons in using this new technology in Vietnam?
How many hours can consumers use the biogenerators comparing different capacities of generators and different capacities of biogas digesters (10m3 or 15m3).
How much VND do users safe on their on electricity bills after the introduction of the technology?
How many biogas installation technicians, how many biogas installations and how how many bio-generators are active and/or operating in the two provinces where the pilot is starting?
What percentage of the sample of biogas installation users is interested in buying biogas generators? What capacity are they interested in and what are they willing to pay?
What is the effective price for energy developed by the generators (400 VND/kwh compared to 700 VND/kwh from the grid)?.