Bharyal’s waste-to-energy plant under probe for inadequate output

SHIMLA: The quality control team of Himachal Pradesh’s Chief Minister’s office is scheduled to conduct a third party inspection of the waste-to-energy plant at Bharyal. The decision for the probe was taken post the STP’s failure to generate the targeted 1.5 MW energy in the 2 years since its establishment. Solid waste management experts will be conducting a thorough check of the plant’s operation to determine why it is unable to generate the required amount of energy from waste.

The Delhi-based private company which had been assigned with the operation of the plant said that it was importing machines from abroad to upgrade the plant. But the company has been saying this for the last one year, according to the probing team members.

As per sources, the company had rushed into running the plant by getting old gas-generating machinery from Delhi in August last year, which failed to function properly.

The ill-functioning plant has been under the radar of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) for a  year when the plant’s inability to adequately manage the waste deposited with it was creating a problem for the locals, who reported the issue to the local governing body. The Shimla Municipal Corporation (SMC) gives 76-80 tonnes of waste, including three-four tonnes from Solan town, to the plant daily. The plant is only able to generate 30-32 tonnes of green energy from the waste, which it sells to private companies in the region.