Smart metering and remote monitoring for biogas production and management: Small scale biogas plants as a case for the study.

Abstract

Biogas potential assessments indicate that low-income countries have biogas resource potential to substantially contribute to the clean cooking transitioning and also reduce carbon emissions linked to the use of solid biomass as cooking fuels. However, the estimated biogas potentials have not been harnessed, and its contribution to the clean cooking targets remains off-targets. Literature often focuses on barriers to the technology adoption and diffusion. There is lack of mechanisms to monitor the gas production and management, specifically at small scale use. This study combines smart biogas metering and remote monitoring of biodigester conditions to ascertain user-end dynamics for a family-sized biodigesters use. Daily biodigesters’ health is remotely monitored using IoT device. Biogas production, usage, leakage, and venting are used to study the role of technology biogas production and management and its contribution to clean cooking pathways, as well as Green House Gas (GHG) emissions mitigations. Findings indicate that the success of the technology is not only hindered by barriers reported in literature. Rather, user practices affect the biogas production and management. Results emphasise the need for developing mechanisms to enhance energy demand side management, irrespective of the primary resource, resource-to-energy conversion technology, and scale of use.