Zaithwa Katuwa¹, Hope Baxter Chamdimba^1,

Amidst the rising cost of energy and unreliable power supply in Malawi, it is imperative that companies invest in alternative sources of energy. Industrial biomass waste should be considered first for economic and environmental reasons. This study was undertaken to assess the techno-economic potential of energy generation from industrial wood waste at Raiply Malawi Ltd in Blantyre. The methods used involved determining the energy demand of the company, quantifying and characterizing the wood waste, and using the System Advisor Model (SAM) to determine the techno-economic viability of the biopower system. The system's size, annual energy yield, installed cost, total installed cost per kW, levelized cost of electricity, carbon dioxide emissions per kWh, net present value, internal rate of return, and payback period were used to assess its feasibility. The study findings showed that the company generates 4,680 tons of sawdust, veneer waste, and offcut waste annually. The quantity and quality of the wood waste in terms of its physiochemical properties will allow the company to operate a biopower system with a 635-kW capacity that will generate 4,486.5 MWh of energy annually. The biopower system is expected to produce 643g of CO2 eq/kWh. The economic analysis showed that the proposed biopower plant will require an installation capital of $3,641,360 with a payback period of 9 years. The total installed cost per capacity was determined to be 5,735.40 $/kW. The proposed project has a net present value of $1,366,391, an internal rate of return of 15.45%, and a levelized cost of energy of 22.7¢//kWh. The techno-economic analysis of the project indicates that the project is viable, and Raiply Malawi must invest in the biomass power plant that in the long term will provide reliable power supply that meets 94.4% of the total energy demanded.

Industry, Wood waste, Energy, Techno-economic, System Advisor Model