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Feasibility study of biomass power plants fired with maize and sorghum stalk in the Sub-Saharan region: a case for the northern part of Cameroon

This study is dealt with evaluation of energy potential of the crop residues for biomass power plants to produceelectricity and thermal energy in the northern province of Cameroon. The proposed biomass power plants haveopen cycle electricity generation and steam extraction units for pre-treatment processes of dry agriculturalresidues and Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) that converts low-temperature heat into electricity. Firstly, possiblelocations are assessed and determined by taking into consideration status of agricultural residues, transportationneeds of the residues and demands for electricity and heat in the locations. Then, techno-economic analysis isdone by focusing on municipalities in the departments of Faro, Mayo-Rey and Benue, which are respectivelyPoli, Bouki, Tcholleré, Toroua, Amdoumré and Tcheboa. The total investment cost is estimated to be 874.5million USD for installed capacity of 270 MW for the electricity needs of the above-mentioned municipalities.The levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) values are found to be the ranges from 6.81 USDcent/kWh to 12.9USDcent/kWh. This study shows that Carbon bonus incentive with the value of 5.16 USDcent/kWh for thebiomass power plant would allow the realization of the projects in the indicated sites. Without the carbonbonus incentive, there will be a negative impact on the electricity generation capacity in the municipalities ofBouki and Tcholleré by causing losses of 72.778GWh/year and 137.331GWh/year, respectively. Moreover, thelocations with the greatest investment potential are found as Bouki and Tcholleré for a payback period of around6 years, and LCOE values are close to 6.81 USDcent/kWh and 6.98 USDcent/kWh for the biomass power plantfired with sorghum, respectively. It is observed that mixing the crop residues are not suitable for these sites. Themunicipalities of the city Benue have an estimated production potential of 636.6 GWh for LCOE values between7.66 USDcent/kWh and 8.20 USDcent/kWh with a payback period of less than 6.5 years.

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