NTPC, IOC plan waste-energy plant at Okhla to keep SDMC area clean

NEW DELHI: State-run generation utility NTPC, oil refiner-fuel retailer IndianOil and South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) on Tuesday signed an MoU for building a waste-to-energy plant at the Okhla landfill site in the national capital.
SDMC will provide an acre of land for the plant, which will use plasma technology for producing syngas (synthesised gas) by processing different kinds of waste -- industrial, biomedical and hazardous.This gas will be used to generate power. NTPC and IOC will fund the project equally.
The demonstration plant will convert 50 tonnes per day of refuse-derived fuel, obtained by segregating combustible components in waste, to syngas. The residue will be converted into vitrified slag, which can be used for building roads and in construction or manufacturing sanitaryware and decorative tiles. The plant will be designed as a zero liquid discharge unit. SDMC area generates about 1,750 tonne of waste, 50% of which is processed at present.
NTPC is also collaborating with East Delhi Municipal Corporation and civic bodies at Kawas in Gujarat, Varanasi in UP, Indore in Madhya Pradesh and Mohali in Punjab for building plants to produce energy from municipal waste.
Oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan said offtake guarantee for compressed biogas production plants is available under his ministry’s SATAT scheme and generation of gas from waste will help in reducing imports of petroleum products and save foreign exchange.
Power and renewable energy minister R K Singh said the proposed plant is an example of two ministries coming together for a “good public cause just the way the prime minister talks about breaking silos.” His ministry has decided to support such plants, irrespective of the cost of the gas produced by them.