Assessing Potential for BioLPG Production and Use within the Cooking Energy Sector in Africa

The prospect of large quantities of economically feasible LPG production from renewably-sourced feedstocks (bioLPG), using agricultural residues, solid wastes and liquid wastes, is tremendously attractive to mitigate concerns about reliance on conventionally sourced LPG and to support country economies. BioLPG would also deliver the economic efficiency of continued use and further expansion of the existing sunk investments in supply-side LPG infrastructure and demand-side household LPG equipment.  In a post-COVID world of reduced financial capability, this is an important justification for allocating funds to scaling up developing country LPG sectors with the benefits of adding a fully renewable component.

This report is a key initial reference point for understanding the feasibility of producing LPG from renewable feedstocks in Africa before 2030. The report team led by the Global LPG Partnership was able to establish feasibility of bioLPG production and also to develop a shortlist of recommended pilot projects for support, whose successful implementations could serve as templates for large scale replication across Africa. Therefore, the report’s findings should particularly interest African governments, international institutions, public and private capital providers and the private sector.

The report delivered three bodies of findings:

• Factors which bear on bioLPG feasibility and its potential scale of implementation;
• Identification of pilot projects for detailed focus; and
• Recommendations for action related to five bioLPG pilot projects.