Perú: «Power Generation using Municipal Solid Waste as Fuel- Iquitos

Iquitos the main and biggest city in the Peruvian Amazon Jungle, like all jungle cities have a severe waste management problem since due to very superficial underground water table level cannot establish a good landfill program. The city presently collects an average 340 MT of solid wastes, additionally it produces an average 30 MT of sawmill by-products that are presently burned.

The project envisions establishing a 10 MW Power plant that will use the MSW plus Sawmill waste as fuel for generation, waste will be subject to a Pyrolisis process in order to gasify all organic origin waste which accounts for around 75/80% 0f total production, all of which will be used. Non-organic waste such as glass, & metal (ferrous & non-ferrous) will be recycled and only a small percentage formed by gravel, and construction debris will continue to be sent to the landfill. Plant wil be establish on the current area used for landfill which will allow drilling and establishing a methane gas collection system to be used for additional fuel. The project consists of the installation of a methane collection and flare system, to be placed in the cells of Huaycoloro’s landfill.

Baseline Scenario

Which emissions are the proposed Clean Development Mechanism CDM project displacing?
Methane emission of existing landfill will be destroyed through a collection system. Through this process the methane turns in CO2, producing a reduction in the GWP since CO2 has 21 times less GWP than CH4.
All future methane emissions will be avoided by using the methane produced by the Pyrolisis process as fuel for Power Generation. Only non-polluting wastes will be either recycled and/or sent to landfill.
What would the future look like without the proposed CDM project?
As mentioned the Amazonian Jungle has a severe problem for establishing landfills, currently the system used is to use small ravines and fill them up,
Nowadays the landfill does not have a system of gas collection, and actual covering of the MSW is very defective causing a severe emission problem.
In Peru, according to its legislation and business as usual practices, without the project, landfill will continue emit methane to the atmosphere, increasing its generation as the MSW increase.
What would the estimated total greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction be with the project?
It has been estimated that the complete process will reduce 165,107.07 tCO2e annually in a period of 10 years.

Current Status

Contract has been signed with the local Municipality by which company will build and own the plant for 10 years and then turn it over to Municipality.
Financing of the project is nearing completion.
The construction of the project is planned to begin by the end of this year. The operation should start 12/15 months after breaking ground.
Estimate of time required before becoming operational
1 year and a half
What is the project lifetime?
30 years
Current status or phase of the project eg: which of the following phases have been completed:
• Feasibility study is finished
• Contract Has been signed with Maynas Provincial Municipality
• Financing is currently nearing completion.
Preliminary engineering is set to start as soon as financing is approved and disbursed. Pre selling CER’s will help firm up financing the whole cost of the project.

Estimated Emission Reductions

Annual: an average of 165,107.07 tCO2e

• Up to and including 2012: 1,023,608.36 tCO2e
• Up to a period of 10 years: 1,466,841.63 tCO2e
• Up to a period of 7 years: 1,155,749.49 tCO2e
• Up to a period of 14 years: 2,311,498.91 tCO2e
• Up to a period of 21 years: 3,956,055.43 tCO2e

Project Benefits

• The principal effect is the decrease of pollution at local and global level, which would not happen in absence of the project. The local pollution affects the health of the nearby population. As well as endangers the very fragile Amazon Jungle environment, the world largest Oxygen generating area.
• The sale incomes of CER’s will allow the company to make sustainable the operation. One very significant social benefit will be to allow a significant reduction of power costs as the Amazon Jungle has no possibilities of using Hydroelectric power generation and is therefore forced to use only Oil based generation This will improve the wellbeing of some of the poorest areas of the city.
• In addition it will reduce the destruction of current jungle area needed for future landfills since plant will not use up additional areas for the future.
• Power Generate by this system will substitute around 35% of current power generated using fossil fuel, thus reducing emissions of this source.
• Finally, the project will reduce the amount of crude oil shipped using river barges.

Project Participant and Financing

Total project cost estimate:
• Development costs US$ 250,000
• Installed costs US$ 21,000,000
• Total project costs: US$ 21,250,000

Sources of finance to be sought or already identified:
• Equity: An American company will provide all financial resources for the project and will operate the plant for ten years.
• Debt: to be determined
• Carbon finance contribution sought: it is expected that the project would be financed with an up front payment for the CER’s sale.

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