VWSA plant going off grid
Volkswagen Group South Africa (VWSA) is poised to implement a plan to move its manufacturing plant in Uitenhage, plus some of its component suppliers in an adjacent supplier park, off the national electricity grid.
Thomas Schaefer, chair and managing director of VWSA, has confirmed a planned project for the company to invest in a biogas facility that uses organic waste to produce electricity is in its final phase.
He added that the Uitenhage plant would be off the electricity grid within the next two to three years.
Schaefer said an entire biogas facility, including a waste separation set-up, would cost about R3.5 billion, but usually achieved break-even after 28 months – and would create about 1 000 jobs.
He said VWSA has approval from its German parent company for the project, which would see it getting a company to operate and manage the biogas facility that will feed electricity directly into its plant.
Schaefer said the company has almost completed the analysis of the project, with the funding package expected to be completed by early next year.
He said it would take about 18 months to build the biogas plant. Once operational, the plant would also produce fertiliser – some 600kg per ton of organic waste used – which could be sold for up to $400 a ton.
“We are thinking of investing in it rather than going to get the World Bank to do it and get an offtake agreement,” said Schaefer.
“We think it’s quite a cool idea that we spend a couple of million and be a shareholder in it, but have somebody else running it. It’s better than throwing money into reforestation in Zimbabwe where we don’t know what is going on.”
Schaefer confirmed that VWSA would need sign off from the minister of energy as well as a permit for the project, but was confident approval would be forthcoming because electricity supply in Uitenhage was a problem.
He said there was a sustainable supply of organic waste for the facility from abattoirs and chicken and fish farms in the area, together with the organic waste generated by food companies.
Many businesses in the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro have been experiencing problems with supply of electricity from Eskom. Schaefer said electricity spikes experienced by VWSA were “like a heart attack to the body shop”.