F. The South Pacific
The island States of the South Pacific are generally dependent
on imported fossil fuels. Due to the high oil prices in the early 1980s and
plentiful indigenous biomass resources (on the larger islands), there was
considerable interest in installing biomass gasification units for electricity
production and crop drying. Available resources include residues from over
600,000 ha of copra plantations and almost 44.5 million ha of forested areas
(Sanday and Lloyd, 1991). The main impetus for the introduction of power
gasifiers into the South Pacific region was the European Community-funded Lome
II Pacific Region Energy Programme (PREP) in 1983/84. This proposed, and
budgeted for, 17 gasifier projects, but finally, only two were installed, both
considerably reduced in scale, capacity and cost relative to the original
proposals. Other gasifier units were also installed privately in the region.
Sanday and Lloyd (1991) of the Energy Studies Unit (ESU) at the University of
the South Pacific carried out a survey and monitoring programme of all power and
heat gasifiers. They found that of the 16 power gasifiers installed altogether,
only one was known to be still operating satisfactorily, the rest having ceased
operation. Similarly, for the “Waterwide” heat gasifiers installed in
Papua New Guinea, only 20 out of 80 were still in use in January 1990, and most
of the other documented heat gasifiers in this region were also expected to have
shut down.
The operational problems were thought mainly to be due to flaws
in original designs resulting in shortened plant lifetime. The systems installed
experienced severe operational and design problems that should have been solved
prior to installation in remote sites. To Sanday and Lloyd (1991, p. 17) it
seemed
“that the Pacific Islands have been used as
experimental stations for technologies that have not been proven in industrial
countries”. (Furthermore,) “gasifiers have often quickly deteriorated
resulting from mismanagement of operational and maintenance procedures, and the
persisting hostile operational environment.”
Most of the manufacturers were external to the region, some
based as far away as Europe. Therefore, there was a lack of spare parts and
skilled technicians to carry out maintenance and repair work. This situation was
exacerbated by the fact that five of the six manufacturers who supplied systems
to the region in the last decade went out of business. There was also a lack of
infrastructure support within the region as personnel trained in gasifier
technology were extremely scarce, so ordinary mechanics and technicians were
often called on to carry out repair work with limited success. Since the
gasifier locations were scattered amongst different islands it was difficult and
costly to locate maintenance services and they could not be promptly available.
Information on the technology was limited and usually in the form of papers for
academics and other technical personnel rather than being designed for potential
end-users.
The availability of biomass feedstocks may have been
over-estimated originally, and the quality these feedstocks and their erratic
supplies resulted in intermittent gasifier operation with some systems being
periodically shut down. The shortages due to lack of fuelwood supplies were
“compounded by domestic cooking receiving priority, difficulties associated
with land availability and ownership, and soil salinity problems when replanting
programmes were used” (Sanday and Lloyd, 1991, p. x). Also, lacking were
schemes to collect scattered fuel and the failure to implement tree replanting
programmes. Furthermore, the “Waterwide” heat gasifiers experienced
problems with smoke contamination affecting the quality of dried agricultural
products and causing heavy financial losses; this was mainly due to improper
use.
Repetitive breakdowns and lack of maintenance support meant
gasifier operators usually preferred to choose diesel systems which had been
proved to be relatively successful and user-friendly in such situations.
Furthermore, initial capital costs of gasifiers were high and unable to compete
with equivalent diesel sets at current diesel fuel prices. All the problems
experienced appear to have discouraged further developments towards
implementation of gasifier technology in the region. Most success was found with
small wood and husk-fuelled gasifiers installed in Papua New Guinea for
agro-drying applications. The single power gasifier that was still operational,
a BECE unit in Vanuatu, connected with a school, was successful due to “the
availability of wood fuels, the commitment of the operators and the school
management and the fortune to have a very gifted and enthusiastic support staff
as one of the teachers at the
school.”
