Cattle keepers of Africa might earn from cow dung; BMW car plant in Pretoria in need of such

The BMW AG’s car-assembly plant in South Africa is doing its bit to help the German carmaker edge toward a global target to supply all its production with renewable energy: It is getting some of its power from cow manure.

The company has agreed to a 10-year deal to buy as much as 4.4 megawatts of electricity from a biogas plant about 80 kilometers (50 miles) from its factory north-west of Pretoria, the South African capital. Surrounded by land where about 30,000 cattle graze, the operation runs off gas emitted by a fetid mixture of dung and organic waste ranging from sour yogurt to discarded dog food.

The deal with Bio2Watt (Pty) Ltd., the closely held company that operates the power plant, was struck to bring Munich-based BMW a step closer to its renewable target, according to the carmaker’s South Africa spokesman Diederik Reitsma. The biogas facility, when ramped up to full capacity, will represent 25% to 30% of the electricity consumption at BMW’s factory, he said in an interview at the car plant.

“We are a big consumer, so that’s a lot,” Reitsma said. “It’s waste no longer wasted.”

BMW already purchases about 51% of its energy from renewable energy sources, according to the company. For local food and waste companies, supplying the station is a convenient and environmentally friendly way to get rid of organic waste that the government is seeking to divert from landfills. The plant also receives waste from several large food companies, according to Bio2Watt Chief Executive Officer Sean Thomas.

“You are looking at around 500 tons of waste coming onto the site every day being processed at the plant,” said Thomas. “A lot of the consultants, the waste companies, are knocking on the door.”

And the stench? After some time at the site, “you don’t smell it anymore,” said Thomas, who visits the project at least once a week. “The problem is if you go to a meeting afterwards, it’s in your clothes, it’s in everything.”