The Hindu             30.01.2014

Spadework on for new waste plant

The spadework for the waste-to-energy plant at Brahmapuram will be over within a fortnight.

KITCO,
the public sector consultant company that has been assigned the task of
completing the paper works for the project, will prepare the bid
documents for the project within the time-frame. Global tenders will
have to be invited for setting up the plant which can process
bio-degradable waste as well as plastic, said Thomas Roy, project
engineer of the company.

The project will come up on a
5-acre plot owned by the Kochi Corporation at Brahmapuram. Experts have
identified waste-to-energy as the suitable process for the plant, which
will be set up in Private-Public-Participation (PPP) mode. The company,
which wins the bid for the plant, can sell the power generated at the
unit to the national power grid or to the Kerala State Electricity
Board. The power tariff and other related details will have to be
finalised, said Mr. Roy.

Incidentally, the authorities had wasted more than a year discussing the suitable technology for the Kochi plant.

The
State government had come forward to set up a new plant at the
Brahmapuram site where the Kochi Corporation had installed a plant using
the funds from the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission.

It
is estimated that the plant would require around 300 tonnes of waste a
day for generating power. It would be the responsibility of the local
authorities to provide the required raw material, the municipal waste,
for the plant. Municipal waste from Kochi Corporation area and
neighbouring local bodies will be treated at the plant. Plastic and
bio-degradable waste need not be segregated and it can go together into
the plant. The presence of plastic in the refuse will help in augmenting
power production, he said.

Ash that is generated from the process could be sold as there are many takers including fertiliser manufacturers.

The
fly ash generated from the plant could be trapped to avoid any
environmental pollution. It would be the responsibility of the company,
which wins the bid, to develop some tie-ups with firms for the sale of
ash generated from the plant.

Contractual conditions
to this effect will be incorporated in the bid document. If everything
works well as planned, the plant could be made operational in 15 months,
he said.