Autumn 2017 EN

Biogas plant of the Comite
Estatal Sistema Producto Nopal
cooperative. The fermenter
vessels are covered with black
foil. For beautification, prickly
pear cacti were planted around
the perimeter.
English Issue
Biogas Journal
| Autumn_2017
Mexico
A prickly pear cactus provides biogas
Mexico has a great deal of potential for biogas. By 2024,
the country wants to achieve an energy mix with 35 percent
renewables. Currently, the proportion is a good 18 percent,
consisting mostly of water and wind power. At 0.3 percent,
energy from biomass hardly plays any role at all. But within
this period, this amount is still supposed to increase to
3 percent. There is no feed-in compensation for electricity
from renewable energies, however.
By Klaus Sieg
Mexico City
Barren mountains, dried up bushes, scrub
brush and yellow grass at the foot of bizarre
cliff formations. You can’t get more Mexican
than that. Then is it any surprise that
Juan Manuel Castañeda Muñoz and the
other members of his cooperative are operating their
biogas plant with cacti? “Cacti grow very quickly”. The
farmer points to the planted fields of the cooperative
near Cavillo in the state of Aguascalientes.
The knee-high Nopal – a prickly pear cactus – stand
there row on row like an army. Between the rows are
wooden crates waiting to be filled. About fifty workers
earn their pay here doing harvest and maintenance
tasks. “Since we’ve been operating the biogas plant, we
have employed twelve more people”, explains Castañeda.
That’s important in a region from which many people
emigrate to the USA looking for work – as long as
they still can.
Juan Manuel Castañeda Muñoz is a member of the
Comite Estatal Sistema Producto Nopal. This cooperative
of 50 farmers cultivate Nopal on a total of 560
hectares. 70 hectares of prickly pear cacti are grown
for the biogas plant. In principle. The tasty and healthy
cactus is also valued as a vegetable in Mexico. But the
prices fluctuate a great deal. “Between November and
February, the prices are very high; then the plant runs
at just one third of its total capacity because we prefer
to sell the cacti”.
Cacti can be used for 20 years
During this season, other regions of Mexico do not produce
as much cactus. Here, however, in the middle of
northern Mexico, this undemanding plant grows well the
whole year long. So it makes more sense to ferment the
farm’s cacti during the months when there’s a large supply
across the country. One cactus plant can be harvest-
30