An alliance between the Mayor’s Office of Quito and the Gasgreen company allowed the first biogas production project to be carried out.
The methane It is a greenhouse gas (GHG) that, in addition to aggravating the climate crisis, deteriorates air quality and human health. It has 80 times more power than carbon dioxide (CO2) to warm the planet and is responsible for 25% of current global warming, according to the United Nations.
Landfills, where city waste is buried, emit this highly polluting gas. However, methane can be captured for energy. An initiative to take advantage of this gas was implemented, through a public-private alliance in 2016, in the Quito landfill, where 2,000 tons of garbage arrive daily. The Municipality of the capital together with the Gasgreen company signed an agreement for the installation of an electric power plant from biogas, made with methane.
The investment amounted to $ 13 million. With five generators, this plant currently produces five megawatts per hour. This plant, which is part of the only six operating in Latin America, was rated by the Clean Development Mechanism, which is part of the Kyoto Protocol, as an initiative that promotes solid waste as a usable raw material.
This category allowed him to obtain the Reduced Emissions Certificates (CER). These bonds represent the right to emit one ton of carbon dioxide. In other words, these certificates are obtained by those who reduce GHG emissions and are sold to signatories of the Kyoto Protocol who need to emit gases above the permitted limit. In this way, the balance established in the Protocol is maintained.
Last Thursday the official delivery of the first CERs for the Metropolitan District of Quito and for Ecuador was held. Officials from the ministries of the Environment, Energy and Non-Renewable Natural Resources, Production, representatives of the United Nations in Ecuador and councilors participated in the event. With this delivery, Quito currently has a cumulative 276,305 CER.
“This is a source of pride for all Quito residents and the population in general, because this is perfectly aligned with the COP26 commitment, which is to reduce methane emissions by 30%”Says María José Ruiz, Gasgreen representative.
For the project to be qualified by the United Nations, it went through several facets, which implied the monitoring of the project by the international entity: “The delivery of CERs is an environmental milestone, since so far they are the first and the only ones registered for Ecuador. This project has allowed the elimination of 10,000 tons of methane”, Indicates Santiago Reyes, president of the company.
The garbage that is collected is dumped into buckets that are then sealed. When methane begins to be generated, it is captured through a technified system, whose machinery was built in Austria, which converts it into electricity. This energy goes to the national electrical system and the State pays a rate to Gasgreen.
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The company has carried out a study to support the expansion of the power plant and increase its power to 9 megawatts. This would eliminate 16,000 tons of methane, that is, 400,000 tons less CO2 in the atmosphere (what is produced by cars in Quito annually). The Quito council has already approved this expansion, which would have an investment of close to five million dollars, and only that of the Ministry of Energy is missing.
Reyes indicates that they have made contacts with other municipalities in “cities with high populations” to apply the initiative in their landfills. The talks are on the right track, he says. (I)
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