Strathmore Energy Research Center (SERC) has a track record of providing support to industry and other stakeholders in implementing and maintaining sustainable bio-energy systems. Working mostly on small to medium scale digester and wood-based systems, SERC can assist in the design or monitoring phase of bioenergy projects. Coupling SERC’s expertise on other renewables such as PV, we can assist in designing customized hybrid solutions for both electricity and or (process) heat demand to industries and residences.
Technology and Scale-independent Assessments
SERCs bioenergy program can help in analyzing a range of bioenergy system scales from small gasifiers in a rice mill to combustion-based electricity and/or heat generation in the MW range. We can help in improving existing systems (cost reduction, biomass supply security and efficiency improvements) or in the design phase for new systems (biomass supply assessments and profitability assessments).
Sustainability of Biomass
Bioenergy systems rely on sound landscape management. The sourcing of biomass, be it wood from forests/farms/woodlands, residue fuels such as bagasse, farm residues, or food processing residues (e.g. nut shells) is crucial when unlocking the full environmental benefits of bioenergy systems. SERC’s bioenergy program can assist in developing sustainability assessment frameworks including carbon accounting procedures.
KTDA collaboration
The bioenergy program at SERC is supporting Kenya’s largest fuelwood consumer with energy audits, assessments of its fuelwood supply chain, and on-site fuelwood logistics. Merging SERC’s engineering expertise with bioenergy-specific analytics provides a unique capacity to help KTDA tackle both energy efficiency challenges with biomass sourcing strategies to ensure sustainability and renewability of the resource.
