CEE Oct-Dec 2012

r Blue's system that segregated waste material. uses non– as input Concord Blue Technology is the Indian division of Germany– based Concord Blue, a waste management company that delivers environment-friendl y, economically feasible and sustainable turnkey Wt E solutions. The Plant is the first of its kind in India to utilize non– segregated waste for generating electricity. PMC has, therefore, set an example in overcoming the challenges associated with the setting up of such plants. Earlier WtE plants employed incineration– based technologies that involved waste combustion, primarily that of non-segregated waste, resulting in the emission of harmful pollutants. The problem arose due to the non– segregation of waste at landfill sites, making their utilization in WtE plants environmentally unviable. However, Concord Blue's technology facil itates extensive solid waste management and generates clean power, free of harmful emissions. At present, Pune generates 1,400-1,600 tonnes of solid waste every day. Of this, PMC supplies about 1,000 tonnes of waste to the processing plant at Urali-Phursungi and 300- 400 tonnes to two vermi-compost plants and two biogas plants. "Currently, we supply 250 tonnes of waste per day to Concord Blue's plant for power generation. Going forward, we will increase the supply to 700 tonnes per day (tpd)," says Sanjay Gawade, ward officer, solid waste management, PMC. To implement the project, PMC has entered into a build-own-operate-transfer agreement with the company for a period of 30 years. As per the agreement, the municipal body will supply up to 700 tonnes of non-segregated waste to the power plant every day and Concord Blue will process the waste on the same day. PMC will pay a processing fee of Rs. 300 per tonne of waste to the company, resulting in an annual revenue stream of about Rs 70 million. The company has already set up the 10 MW plant , of which, only 2.65 MW has been commissioned. The plant is expected to be fully commissioned by end-2012. Currently, all the power generated is being consumed by the plant itself. However, once the plant is operational at full capacity, Concord Blue intends to sell 85 per cent of the generated power through the grid and use the balance of self- consumption. The plant load factor of the project is expected to be 85.6 per cent at full capacity. The power plant is spread across an area of 2.5 acres allotted by PMC. Concord Blue is the engineeri ng, procurement and construction contractor for the project. It also supplied the pre– conditioning unit and gas engine for the plant. Construction of the plant commenced in February 2011 and was completed in 12 months. The plant is estimated to entail a total cost of Rs 1.5 billion. The company asserts that revenues from the power plant will ensure returns on investment within five to six years, with an internal rate of return of 20 per cent. A 30-year power purchase agreement has been signed with lata Power. In this regard, Concord Blue is installing a 33 kVA transmission line of 5.5 km up to the nearest substation of Tata Power, which has a voltage rating of 33/66 kVA. The WtE plant generates electricity through Concord Blue's indigenous thermolysis technology, Concord Blue Reformer. The technology converts non-segregated waste to a high calorific gas through a process of thermochemical degradation. The process involves heating the waste at very high temperatures of about 1,000 °C in the absence of oxygen to convert it to gas, which is subsequently used in the gas engine to generate power. Since the project does not involve combustion of non-segregated waste, pollutant such as dioxins and furan are not emitted. Moreover, the emissions from the power plant are in keeping with the environmental standards. The plant generates 45