The Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike’s (BBMP) ambitious project to effectively use wet waste to generate power appears to be gradually seeing fruition. Of the proposed 16 biomethanisation plants that will come up in the city, three are ready to be commissioned.
According to highly placed sources in the BBMP, the three plants — at Yelahanka, Mathikere and K.R. Market — are ready to be commissioned. Each plant, constructed at a cost of Rs. 79 lakh, has the capacity to process 5 tonnes of wet waste a day and can generate around 50 KW power. The power that is generated by these plants would be used locally for lighting purposes, sources said.
Sources also said that of the 16 plants, the construction of 13 was under way. The location of three more plants was under dispute and yet to be finalised. The plants have been constructed by Pune-based Ashoka Biogreen Pvt. Ltd.
“The company has signed an agreement with the BBMP for the construction of the 16 plants on build, own, operate, transfer (BOOT) basis. The company will maintain the plants for three years,” the source said and added that the maintenance costs for each plant would come up to around Rs. 23.25 lakh for all three years.
The city generates around 4,000 tonnes of waste every day. While the BBMP has made it mandatory to segregate waste, citizens who follow the rule complain that the contractors aggregate the segregated waste. It was to solve the city’s garbage problem that the 16 biomethanisation plants to generate power using wet waste was mooted. BBMP sources believe that with the commissioning of all the plants, the city solid waste management problem will be solved to some extent.
