Feasibility Study on Landfill Gas Utilization Project in | CDM/JI | Global Environment Centre Foundation (GEC)

Reports of CDM/JI Feasibility Studies

Title of the research	Feasibility Study on Landfill Gas Utilization Project in Thailand
FY	FY 2004
Main research organization	Obayashi Corporation
Research partner(s)	Hitachi Zosen Corporation, Energy for Environment Foundation
Location of the project	Nonthaburi Province, Thailand
Summary of the research report (PDF)	Summary(98kb)
Description of the project	The proposed project is a project that recovers landfill gas for electricity generation from the sanitary landfills and open dumping site in the Solid Waste Disposal Center, Nonthaburi, Thailand. The Solid Waste Disposal Center is located in Sai-Noi district, north-west part of Nonthaburi province. The center is owned and operated by Provincial Administration Organization of Nonthaburi (PAON) and accepts wastes generated in this province, about 800 tons/day. Currently, all the wastes are disposed in the open dumping site in the center. It is scheduled the open dumping site to be closed and sanitary landfills, Landfill-B and Landfill C in the center, to be started their operation, receiving wastes, from 2005. The proposed project is designed to collect and utilize landfill gas from those landfills and open dumping site. The outline of the project is as follows: ･ Electricity Generation Capacity: Approx. 900kW(300 × 3 sets) ･ Project Duration: 10 years (2007-2016) ･ All the landfill gas recovered to be combusted by power generation or flare system ･ All the electricity generated to be fed to the grid
GHG	CH₄, CO₂
Sector of the project	Waste Management
CDM/JI	CDM
Duration of the project activity/ crediting period	2007-2016
Baseline methodology/additionality	The methodology applied for this project is a consolidated baseline methodology for landfill gas project activities, known as ACM0001. "Tool for the demonstration and assessment of additionality" (EB 16 Report Annex 1) is used to demonstrate and assess additionality of the project, while a small-scale methodology, TYPE1-RENEWABLE ENERGY PROJECTS, 1.D. Renewable electricity generation for a grid, para. 29, to determine emission reduction associated with the displacement of the grid-based electricity generation. 1) Applicability of the Methodology The project recovers landfill gas, while the baseline scenario is total atmospheric release of landfill gas. And the project uses recovered gas for electricity generation or flare, and claims emission reductions by displacement of grid electricity. Therefore, it is considered to be appropriate to apply the methodology ACM0001 to this project. 2) Additionality assessment Based on the "Tool for the demonstration and assessment of additionality (additionality attesting tool)", the additionality was attested. The result of the assessment shows that the project is not feasible and will not be implemented without CDM, because of barriers involved, such as financial, legislative and etc. Therefore, the project is considered to be additional.
Estimation of GHG emissions	GHG emission reduction estimates are made by projecting the future greenhouse gas emissions from the landfills using First Order Decay (FOD) model (IPCC guideline, 1996). The project is estimated to reduce 710,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions in total as Table 1 shows. Table 1: GHG emission reduction by the project(ERy)
Monitoring methodology	Monitoring will be performed based on the methodology ACM0001.
Environmental impact	Those negative impacts, such as changes in land use by construction of the project, noise and air pollution caused by the operation of the project, that might be delivered through the project are considered to be limited. On the other hand, the project will deliver significant positive impacts on the local environment, including reduction in odor by recovery and destruction of landfill gas, as well as reduction in risks of fire and explosion.
Issues and tasks for project implementation	Further improvement is necessary make the project attractive enough to invest and finalize the project plan. Further improvement will include such actions as applying for government subsidy program and reducing initial investment and operational costs. It is targeted that a MOU with the local governments be signed in the first half of next fiscal year, when the project plan is finalized. However, the execution of the MOU will depend on the Thai government's approval procedure of CDM project, the time required for approval and etc. since the timing of landfill gas recovery decides the financial feasibility of the project. On the other hand, uncertainties on the framework of Kyoto Protocol after 2012, the second commitment period, have been revealed and are becoming major hurdles for project to be launched. To overcome the new hurdles, Japanese government's support such as providing a program purchasing CER produced after 2012 is considered to be critical.