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Rural Energy Development in Argentina
One of our recent SEPS projects aims to tackle the issues of rural energy scarcity, high volumes of biomass feedstock and problems of waste disposal by installing an anaerobic biodigester in the region of Los Pinos, Balcarce.Minimize
Around 80% of the populated areas in Argentina are rural communities with less than 2000 inhabitants, while 60% of the country’s population lives in the 17 biggest cities. Especially in the Humid Pampas region, many small towns lack power supply and waste management facilities, which makes access to energy difficult, expensive and unsustainable. In these areas the national grid is often unreliable.
Los Pinos, the site of this project led by INTA, is located around 400 km from Buenos Aires. It currently numbers 190 households with a population of around 350 people. The energy demand of Los Pinos was determined during the first working phase of the project.
Further successfully implemented activities include:
- The permission and approval of project activities by local authorities;
- The signing of an agreement by producers to ensure feedstock supply to a biogas demonstration unit;
- The formation of a “Public Services Cooperative” to ensure management and operation of the plant; and
- The completion of socioeconomic and environmental baseline surveys to measure the impact of the installation once it is in operation
In the coming months, the project team will work on the installation of the biogas plant, the training of the operators, and the optimisation of ongoing processes.
Find more general information about this project on our SEPS project site: Biogas Demonstration Unit for Sustainable Rural Energy Development in the Humid Pampas of Argentina
