A review of UNIDO’s biogas demonstration projects in Southern Africa: Insights aimed at strengthening the biogas market development

• Proliferating waste generation and energy needs create opportunities to adopt biogas technologies. • Most projects prioritize large-scale energy generation only. • Many biogas projects fail to sustain over the long term. • Capacity building and tech support matter while demonstration projects aid scalability. • Lessons from projects must be shared and data-driven insights used to improve sustainability. The biogas market in South(ern) Africa continues to present a multitude of opportunities amid proliferating waste generation and increasing energy demands. Many consultancy reports and academic and community-based studies have been conducted about the role and benefits of biogas in Southern Africa. Focus areas range from an introduction to biogas technology and its awareness by end-users, suitable feedstock and types of digesters, capacity building and project development, investors’ appetite and types of funding mechanisms available, and more. Synonymous outcomes from these reports indicate that biogas projects not only address energy access but also organic waste management challenges; they also spur localised skills development and employment opportunities across the value chain. However, with all these insights, biogas project development remains challenged – particularly the project’s sustainability. This study reviews secondary data of planned and implemented demonstration biogas projects supported by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) in South Africa over a 6-year period. Findings indicate that the majority of the projects were intended for energy generation, followed by waste management and, in some cases, a concurrent focus. An important discussion point for the industry and developers is that: there are many components of a biogas project development cycle; for projects to be more sustainable, these need to be better interlinked. The components are: Component 1 (Capacity Building and Technology Support System), Component 2 (Biogas Market Development and Regulatory Framework), Component 3 (Technology Demonstration) and Component 4 (Scaling Up). The findings stress the need for greater knowledge-sharing of demonstration projects to serve as practical information for improved project development as well as sustainability.