Telangana Govt plans big on waste to energy projects

Telangana government is now setting its eye on generation of 100 MWs energy from waste in the near future and to top the list in the country.

Hyderabad: After commissioning South India’s largest Waste to Energy (WTE) plant at Jawaharnagar in 2021, the State government is now setting its eye on generation of 100 MWs energy from waste in the near future and to top the list in the country.

In 2021, the 19.8 MW plant was commissioned at Jawaharnagar and it was later upgraded to a 24 MW plant. It consumes around 1300 to 1500 metric tonnes of waste per day.

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As of January, this year, the plant utilized 6.35 lakh tonnes of waste and produced 225 MW of power. This plant has been now augmented to its full capacity to 48 MW and is utilizing about 2,500 MT to 3,000 MT of waste a day.

In addition to this, construction of another 14.5 MW plant with a waste-consumption capacity of 1000 to 1200 MT is being set up at Dundigal.

This plant has the potential to reduce pressure on the landfill, lower the foul smell in the area, and prevent ground, soil and water pollution. It is expected to commence operations in about 18 months.

Further, another plant of 15 MW capacity is being proposed to be set up on 150 acres of government land at Pyaranagar of Sangareddy district, 11 MW at Bibi Nagar and 14 MW at Yacharam.

The proposed plant at Pyaranagar is aimed at bringing down transportation costs too by offering in situ storage and treatment options for processing the waste. The plant may consume 800 MTs to 1000 MTs of waste per day, collected from the northern parts of the city.

Once all the above plants become operational, Telangana would have an installed capacity of 100 MW, a senior MAUD official said.

To ensure effective waste management practice in the districts, the State government is already taking up bio-mining in nine clusters. Of these, Waste to Energy plants are being proposed in two clusters of Warangal and Karimnagar. The Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) generated from the clusters would be utilized at the proposed energy plants to produce electricity.

RDF is produced from combustible components of municipal solid waste. It is generally transported from processing sites and dried and baled before finally burning to produce electricity.