Public-private partnerships plan 9 waste-to-energy projects

The governments of a number of Mexican states are developing nine waste-to-energy projects in partnership with local companies that could start operations as early as 2005, according to the World Bank's lead engineer in the Latin America Environment Department, Walter Vergara. "The projects are at different stages, some more developed than others, but they are all at early stages," Vergara told BNamericas, without naming the companies involved. Waste-to-energy projects are particularly suited to Mexico, Vergara said, adding, "The idea is that these units will be developed through private-public partnerships like the plant in Monterrey." The global environmental facility (GEF), provided 48%, or US$5.2mn, of the financing to build the 7MW Bioenergia plant at Monterrey's metropolitan area waste processing system Simeprodeso. The Bioenergia plant started operations in September, and is the first project of its kind in Mexico. "This project shows that a partnership between the public and private sectors under the existing regulations has proven fruitful," Vergara said. Although the GEF will not participate directly in similar projects being developed in Mexico, the project developers can obtain financing by selling CO2 reduction credits to foreign companies through the World Bank's Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), Vergara said. The CDM, developed as part of the Kyoto protocol's plan to reduce greenhouse emissions, allows companies in the developed world to buy CO2 emissions credits from developing countries in order to meet their own emissions reduction targets. "The GEF has limited resources, and they wanted to show that this can be done, and now that the CDM is open and working through the bank that's a much better way to do it for many projects," Vergara said. There are similar waste-to-energy projects being developed in Brazil and Colombia and other Latin American countries, Vergara said, adding, the Monterrey project helped provide the "momentum" to show that these kind of projects can be done on budget and on schedule. "We have surpassed expectations in terms of output, we have already eliminated 4,000 tonnes of methane from entering the atmosphere and 80,000 tonnes of CO2 since the plant started operations in June," Vergara said. "This is not just an energy business, this is a development business," he said, adding that the projects also help local development needs in their communities and offset CO2 remissions through reforestation programs.