The Hindu                 30.04.2013

Work on waste-to-energy plant begins at Venkatamangalam

Rs. 100-crore project to be completed by mid-2014; will produce power from solid waste generated in Tambaram and Pallavaram.

Preliminary civil works for a waste-to-energy power plant began at Venkatamangalam village on Monday.

The non-incineration facility will produce power from solid waste generated in Tambaram and Pallavaram municipalities.

A bhoomi pooja was performed at the 50-acre site at Venkatamangalam, located around 15 kilometres from Tambaram and coming under Kattankulathur panchayat union, Kancheepuram district.

The project is being executed under a public-private partnership on a design, built, operate and transfer (DBOT) scheme. The Rs. 100-crore plant, which is scheduled to be completed by mid-2014, is expected to generate three megawatts of power every hour.K.M.R. Nissar Ahmed, Pallavaram municipal chairman, said of the total project cost, Rs. 20 crore would be covered by a grant under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, while the rest was pooled by Essel Infraprojects, the lead partner in the project.

The plant would be designed to handle 300 tonnes of solid waste every day and Essel Pallavapuram and Tambaram Municipal Solid Waste Private Limited — a Special Purpose Vehicle created for the purpose — would also be in charge of operating and maintaining the facility, including landfill sites, for 20 years, Mr. Ahmed told presspersons here.

The chairman said, even after the commissioning of the plant, the two municipalities of Pallavaram and Tambaram would continue to be engaged in primary collection, and the garbage generated in the two towns will be transferred to the plant in Venkatamangalam by the private company. The municipalities would pay Rs. 500 for every tonne of garbage transferred from the towns to the plant site.

On how the plant would operate, municipal officials said the garbage brought to the plant site would be segregated into degradable, recyclable and other inert waste. The wet waste would be dried with blowers to rid them of moisture and once that is done, the weight of the garbage would come down by 50 per cent.

The garbage would then be sieved, shredded and subject to a thermalisation process which would finally result in the creation of a syngas. This syngas would be used to run dynamos and create power supply, which would in turn be used for running the unit, with the surplus being sold, officials added.

The waste generated as a by-product could be either used for creating eco-bricks or dumped in scientific landfills. No part of the process would result in any form of pollution to land, water or air, the officials said.

Parthapratim Ata, general manager, Essel Infraprojects, said they were confident of completing the project on time and start generating power supply by the middle of next year.

Rochem Green Energy Private Limited would be the technical partner for the project.

The Hindu                29.04.2013

Pilot project on source segregation of waste

A pilot project on solid waste management focussing on segregation of waste at the source has been launched at Mettupalayam Municipality, one of the nine chosen across the country for getting assistance under Central Government’s National Urban Sanitation Policy.

The local body has purchased 33 dumper blazer dustbins and 35 push carts for this project, which were pressed into service on Thursday (April 25).

According to Municipality Chairman D. Satheesh Kumar, initially the project would be taken up in six wards, of the total 33, where the solid waste would be segregated during the house-to-house collection. The Municipality generated a total of 35 tonnes of solid waste per day.

“A public awareness campaign would be taken up on source segregation. A Rs. 1 crore-bio-methenisation plant, which would generate power from waste, was sanctioned recently for Mettupalayam. It requires, per day, between three and five tonnes of waste such fruits, vegetables and other kitchen waste.”

The electricity generated from this project would be used to power the street lights, which would save nearly Rs. 4 lakh in electricity charges every month.

The local body had tied up with Exnora and Water Aid to undertake this project as part of the City Sanitation Plan.

Exnora had conducted a study on waste generation in Mettupalayam over the past year and had presented its preliminary findings during a City Task Force on Thursday.

A detailed report would be submitted in two months. Mr. Satheesh Kumar said that they would scale up the project to cover the entire Municipality in two months.