Biomass gasification for off-grid electrification of South-Saharan Africa

Abstract

The NGO Misión y Desarrollo para Goundi, with the collaboration of the technology transfer centre CITCEA-UPC and the support of the CCD-UPC, is carrying out since 2011 the project Pôle Goundi aiming to electrify Goundi, a village located in the South of Chad. In this sense, the construction of a small-scale power plant which will use local resources to generate electricity is planned. Although the plant is expected to use photovoltaic and thermal solar energies also, biomass gasification has also been prioritized due to the social and economical advantages of spurring agricultural activity in Goundi. Since the installation of the power plant will be done by stages, the first stage of the project has to demonstrate its viability by installing and operating the first 20kW of electrical power. For this, a complete commercial solution which is able to gasify woody biomass has been selected. Currently, the system is being tested before its shipment to Chad and a model which simulates its behaviour has been developed.