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Our Projects

Biogas & Solar Energy for Farming & Cooking Initiative

Our first project is based in Belet Hawa & Dolow in South West Somalia, near the border with Kenya. SOMASEF acquired 150 hectares of farmland by the river. Only 11 hectares of this land is currently being tilled due to lack of water, despite a river running by. We believe the solution is biogas production from organic waste and tapping into the abundant solar energy. Ethane biogas production is becoming popular around the world but is not well known in Somalia.

We tested (based on lessons learned from Kenya) a biogas digester made of a plastic barrel. This was filled with fruit waste and cow manure and fermented for 10 days. A blue and clean methane gas was produced. We discovered that the slurry and water residue produced was a rich fertilizer.

The pilot project involved:

  • Providing 20 biogas digesters and stoves to 20 women.
  • Engaging 10 women to collect waste for biogas digesters and the slurry residue and water fertilizers.
  • Installing solar panels.

Empowering Women

85% of SOMASEF’s beneficiaries will be women, due to the nature of the work and importance of safeguarding their rights. Our ultimate target is to farm at least 120 hectares and to also grow bananas, sesame & maize, using just solar power and biogas fertilizer.

Solar irrigation panels being constructed at our Bellet-Hawa site, and the other solar equipment needed to pump water from the river. SOMASEF’S goal to install a micro-chip based mini grid that on agri-biomass or biogas as fuel that produces electricity and fertilizers. This concept was successfully tested in India by USAID.

There are now thousands and thousands of them in use. The cost of setting up one GRE bioenergy-based mini grid solution is around $60,000. The mini grid can potentially generate about $20k per annum in gross revenue, resulting in a 3-year payback on a system with an average 20-year lifetime.