Power solution to PMC’s garbage problem

With the ongoing garbage processing crisis, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) finally has some hope. The Rochem Separation System has been approved by the Maharashtra Electricity Regularity Commission (MERC) to sell electricity generated from garbage processing to the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL). MERC has finalised a rate of Rs 5.46 per unit of electricity for selling to MSEDCL.

The project was approved last week in Mumbai. Speaking to Mirror, D R Kalasakar, associate director of the Rochem Separation System said, “After over a year, MERC has finally approved the connection of our electricity to the MSEDCL grid.

It will take at least three months to connect the grid as we have to invest Rs 3 crore for the connection. With this in place, our annual processing capacity will increase from 300 tonnes to 500 tonnes.” “Three hundred tonnes of garbage will produce 2.5 Megawatts (Mw) of electricity. We have the capacity to produce 10 Mw of power from 700 tonnes of garbage processing. We will gradually increase it,” he added. Suresh Jagtap, Deputy Commissioner of PMC’s Solid Waste Management department, said, “This will definitely ease the pressure on the civic body.” PMC given a contract to Rochem Green Energy Pvt Ltd on a build-operate and transfer (BoT) basis which processes 700 tonnes of dry waste and generates 10 Mw of power every day. The waste is segregated and dried before it is pushed in the furnace where gas generated from it is used to run the turbine that generates power supply. The plant has been operational from January 2012 on a trial basis.

The 300 tonnes of garbage being processed daily was generating 2.5 Mw of power since August 2012 but it was going to waste with approval from MERC which determines the tariff for generation, supply, transmission and wheeling of electricity, wholesale, bulk or retail, as the case may be within the State. The company has invested Rs 150 crore in the project and will recover the cost by charging Rs 300 per ton of garbage and selling electricity to MSEDCL.

Source: Pune Mirror