Biogas power raises hot air in Botswana
An ambitious public-private biogas project needs to be scaled up if it is to contribute to Botswana’s renewable energy targets by 2030.
“We are building a mammoth!” says Atamelang Matale, her eyes in a happy dance. “This is the biggest biogas digester I am constructing to date.”
Her voice is loud. It rises above the din of splashing water, the grating and clanking of shovels scooping and throwing concrete mix into a water-filled wheelbarrow. The end result is a grey porridge subsequently dumped into a digester pit pre-laid with welded wire mesh.
The 29-year-old Matale is a biogas digester mason trained through a project in Botswana funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
The project, launched on January 20 2017 and wrapped up in January 2022, sought to promote the production and use of biogas as an environmentally friendly source of energy for farms, households and institutions that produce or have access to agro-waste.