Report on the feasibility study of a national programme for domestic biogas in Ethiopia. For SNV – Ethiopia. Dr Getachew Eshete Dr. Kai Sonder Felix ter Heegde May 2006 0.1 Summary Rural domestic energy supply in Ethiopia is (virtually) entirely biomass based. In combination with the increasing pressure of the rural population, this has led to rapid depletion of natural resources and degradation of the environment in large areas of the country. As most of the rural households are involved in (subsistence) farming, integrating agriculture and animal husbandry, domestic biogas could theoretically not only foresee in the need for cooking energy, but also provide a good source for organic fertilizer. Furthermore, domestic biogas could improve the livelihood situation of rural households regarding aspects of workload, health and sanitation. From a need assessment perspective, therefore, domestic biogas would be very promising indeed. This study researched the extent to which essential conditions for large scale dissemination of domestic biogas are present. It concludes that there is a significant technical potential for domestic biogas. In the four studied regions (Amhara, Oromia, SNNPRS and Tigray) this potential is estimated to be between 1.1 and 3.5 million households. But the team also identified important constraints: the low level of disposable income of most rural households prohibits any significant investment; the scarce availability of process water endangers proper plant operation; the (very) limited rural dissemination infrastructure in combination with the scattered population pattern make dissemination activities laborious and (thus) expensive; the gender imbalance in decision making at household level will increase the threshold for the investment, and; the low awareness of alternative energy technology in general and domestic biogas in general will necessitate a large investment in promotion work. Clearly, despite its promising features and the significant technical potential, implementation of a large scale domestic biogas programme will not be “plain sailing”. The team proposes a pilot domestic biogas programme in four regions over a period of 5 years, aiming to support the construction of 10,000 installations. In addition to the direct benefits the programme is expected to have, the sizeable pilot will provide better insights of the exact nature of Ethiopia’s rural domestic energy sector and dissemination constraints and allow the programme to adjust its implementation strategy accordingly. Total programme costs, including all hard and software, have been budgeted to approximately € 11 million. The report is divided in 5 sections. Section 1 addresses the background of the country, Ethiopia’s main climatic characteristics, the agriculture and animal husbandry sector and the energy situation. It ends with a brief explanation on biogas and its benefits. ii Section 2 starts with the study set up. It furthers with the main study findings regarding installations visited, functionality, economics, operation, dissemination modalities and lists the organizations active in the field of domestic biogas. Section 3 addresses the main conditions for large scale dissemination of domestic biogas, including technical, financial, social and institutional aspects. From a mapping of Ethiopia’s livestock data and an interpretation of data regarding the availability of process water, a first estimate of the technical potential for domestic biogas is offered. Section 4 presents the lessons learnt and the recommendations based thereon. Some main programme design considerations –technical design, sizing, costs and benefit of biogas, subsidy and credit are addressed in more detail. Section 4 ends with a brief reflection on opportunities of CDM as a co-financing mechanism. Section 5 drafts the first outline of an activity schedule and budget for a possible pilot of a large-scale biogas programme in Ethiopia. The section concludes with listing some of the opportunities and threats of such a programme. 0.2 Acknowledgement Ethiopia is a large country of great social and geographic variation and domestic energy –including biogas- is a multifaceted topic. Consequently, for the study our team leaned heavily on the sympathetic cooperation of a large number of households and professionals. Everywhere our questions were answered elaborately, where we overlooked relevant issues our hosts filled us in anyway, and we were provided with a wealth of background information and documentation. The team is indebted to all the persons and organizations that took time to assist us and it was a privilege to have this many knowledgeable and experienced people sharing their understanding of domestic energy and rural development with us. Thank you al very much for your contributions and cooperation; it provided the study with meaning and made doing the study a true pleasure. Despite all your input, there will likely be errors in the report. Obviously, those are fully our responsibility. Addis Abeba, June 2006. iii 0.3 Table of content Section Chapter Title Page 1 Introduction & country background 1 Introduction 2 1.1 Recent history in brief 2 1.2 Current political situation 3 2 Country background 3 2.1 Poverty traps 4 3 Climatic conditions 6 3.1 Rainfall 6 3.2 Drought 6 3.3 Temperature 7 4 Agriculture and animal husbandry 8 4.1 Agriculture 8 4.2 Animal husbandry 10 5 Energy demand & supply, policy and plans 11 5.1 The primary energy resource base 11 5.2 The macro perspective 13 5.3 The micro perspective 15 5.4 The energy sub-sector institutional set-up 17 5.5 Domestic energy in summary 18 6 Biogas 19 6.1 Benefits of domestic biogas 19 6.2 Biogas & Sustainable Development 20 6.3 Biogas & the UN Millennium Development Goals 21 6.4 Biogas & PASDEP 24 6.5 History and current status of domestic biogas in Ethiopia 25 2 Study findings 26 1 Study objectives 27 1.1 Methodologies 27 1.2 Limitations 28 2 Study observations 28 2.1 Types of installations visited 28 2.2 Functionality 29 2.3 Economics 31 2.4 Operation 33 2.5 Dissemination modalities 39 2.6 Policy and strategy 40 2.7 Organizations active in the biogas sector 41 3 Potential demand for domestic biogas 43 1 Conditions for large-scale dissemination 44 1.1 Technical aspects 45 1.2 Financial aspects 47 1.3 Social aspects 49 1.4 Institutional aspects 51 2 Livestock population mapping. 52 3 Technical potential 53 3.1 Amhara 53 3.2 Oromia 54 iv 3.3 SNNPRS 55 3.4 Tigray 56 3.5 Summary technical potential 56 4 Design considerations 57 1 Lessons learnt 58 1.1 Technical issues 59 1.2 Operational issues 60 1.3 Economic issues 60 1.4 Dissemination issues 60 1.5 Policy issues 61 2 Recommendations 62 2.1 Sectoral, market oriented approach 62 2.2 Pilot of reasonable size 62 2.3 Investment costs 63 2.4 Technical aspect 63 2.5 Specific recommendations for SNV-Ethiopia 63 3 Some particular considerations 65 3.1 Installation design 65 3.2 Appliances 66 3.3 Plant size 67 3.4 Investment costs 67 3.5 Costs & benefits of domestic biogas 69 3.6 Subsidy 71 3.7 Credit 72 3.8 Biogas & the Clean Development Mechanism 73 5 Outline of the Ethiopia Biogas Programme 75 1 Main features 76 2 Programme goal and purpose 77 3 Programme components 77 4 Expected results 78 5 Actors and activities 79 6 Activity schedule and budget outline 81 6.1 Subsidy 82 6.2 Direct investment 82 6.3 Credit 83 6.4 The regional support budget 84 6.5 The national support budget 84 6.6 Technical assistance 85 6.7 Budget summary 85 7 Opportunities and risks 87 7.1 Opportunities 87 7.2 Risks 88 v 0.4 List of annexes 1 ToR Feasibility study 2 Description of regions in the study area 3 Construction manual biogas installation type GGC 2047 4 Expected programme results 5 Programme activity schedule and budget 6 Draft profile sketch SNV Senior Technical Advisor Addendum with comments of EREDPC 0.5 Abbreviations AATPI Appropriate Agricultural Technology Promotion Initiative (World Vison ACSI Amhara Credit and Savings Institute AEMFI Association of Ethiopian Micro Finance Institutions ANRS Amhara National Regional State BoA Bureau of Agriculture BOAM Support to Business Organizations and Access to their Markets (SNV) BoE Bureau of Energy BoQ Bill of Quantities € Euro EIRR Economic Rate of Return EPRDF Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Democratic Front EREDPC Ethiopian Rural Energy Development and Promotion Centre EU European Union FIRR Financial rate of Return FDRE Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia ODA Official Development Assistance PASDEP Plan for Accelerated Sustainable Development to End Poverty Masl meters above sea level GDP Gross Domestic Product GEF Global Environment Facility GNP Gross National Product GTZ German Technical Cooperation FAO Food and Agriculture Organizations GJ, TJ Giga (10 9) Joule, Tera (10 12 )Joule hh household ha hectare BLT Branches, Leaves and Twigs ETB Ethiopian Birr SNV The Netherlands Development Organization STVC Selam Technical and Vocational Centre GHG Greenhouse Gas CDM Clean Development Mechanism MDG Millennium Development Goal vi MFI Micro Finance Institute MoFED Ministry of Finance and Economic Development NGO Non Governmental Organization PPP Public Private Partnership REF Rural Energy Fund SME Small and Medium Enterprise SNNPRS Southern Nations and Nationalities People’s Regional State UNDP United Nations Development Programme (US) $ (United States) Dollar WB World Bank WBISPP Woody Biomass Inventory Strategic Planning Project 0.6 References 001 2001 Kellner, C: Biogas Technology. Technical paper developed for the GTZ Land use planning and resource management project in region (LUPO). 002 April 2001 Kellner, C.: First steps of an Ethiopian Biodigester Standard. 003 May 2004 Eshete, G et al: Final report of the identification study on renewable energy and energy efficiency in Southern Nations and Nationalities Peoples Regional State and Ethiopia. 004 January 2005 FAO: Global information and early warning system on food and agriculture, special report crop and food supply assessment mission to Ethiopia.