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May 24 2012 17:31
The Reserve Bank will maintain current interest rates, and a sizeable reduction in the local petrol price is expected, says governor Gill Marcus.
May 23 2012 22:00
Economic liberation or the lack thereof is the most divisive issue in the country, according to a survey.
May 24 2012 15:29
The Reserve Bank will maintain current interest rates, says governor Gill Marcus.
Vereeniging - Plans to produce sufficient electricity from cattle manure for a small town could soon become reality.
Independent power producer Lesedi Biogas Project (LBP) intends building one of the world's largest open-air biogas plants at Karan Beef's feedlot outside Heidelberg on the banks of the Blesbokspruit.
The proposed power station, which will use the dung from 130 000 cattle as fuel, will have an average daily generating capacity of 5.3MW.
According to LBP's representative Nunda Naidoo, the construction of the power station will take about 18 months and cost R150m.
The first electricity is expected to be generated at Karan Beef's feedlot (the biggest in South Africa) by mid-2011, and will be sold to Eskom.
Globally the production of biogas is regarded as an environmentally positive means of generating electricity, since methane is a powerful greenhouse gas, and far more noxious than carbon dioxide, explains environmental consultant Dr Johann van Niekerk, who compiled the environmental impact study.
According to Naidoo, the LBP has received financing for the project from the Central Energy Fund.
A dairy farm with 300 to 500 cows could produce enough manure to operate an 85kW-odd electrical generator, and pig farms generate 50kW for every 500 pigs.
- Sake24.com
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