Garbage to light up your house

In less than two years from now, Delhi will have electricity produced from garbage generated from across the city.

In less than two years from now, Delhi will have electricity produced from garbage generated from across the city.

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The Delhi government is setting up a power generation plant, which will not only solve the problem of disposal of one-third of garbage that Delhi produces, but will also help Delhi becoming self-sustaining in electricity.

Being set up in Okhla by the Timarpur-Okhla Waste Management Company Private Limited, a special purpose utility backed fully by Jindal Urban Infrastructure, the plant will produce 16 MW electricity per day from almost 1,800 metric tones solid waste.

The project will cost Rs 200 crore and the company has already signed an agreement to sell the electricity to Delhi government at Rs 2.45 per unit, the officials said.

Garbage disposal is one of the biggest challenges Delhi faces today, as its three landfill sites are saturated and little land available on the outskirts of the city to construct a new landfill site.

Senior Delhi government officials said this power generation unit, along with another being set up by Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) in Ghazipur, would take care of half the garbage Delhi produces every day.

DIAL, in a joint venture with SELCO International, is also setting up an electricity generation plant on build, own, operate and transfer (BOOT) basis. However, the electricity produced by the two plants will be quite insignificant in comparison to Delhi's rising demand.

DIAL’s plant will produce about 7-8 megawatts electricity from 1,300 metric tones garbage.

According to Delhi government officials, garbage disposal is a huge challenge for several developed nations like England and the United States where the governments have started converting garbage into electricity.

Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit will lay the foundation stone for this plant in Okhla on Saturday.