Karnataka ready to get its first waste-to-energy plants

BENGALURU: B S Yediyurappa, Chief Minister, Government of Karnataka, virtually laid the foundation stone of 11.5 Mega-watt (MW) power plant to be set up on 10 acres of land in Bidadi, Bengaluru. In around one and half years’ time, Bengaluru will be using a portion of its waste to turn it into energy, enabling the city to reduce the burden on waste management plants.

Almost 600 of the 5,000 tonnes of waste generated by Bengaluru daily will be used to supply the power to Karnataka Power Corporation Limited (KPCL). Officials said that this plant will result in the annual savings of around Rs 14 crore which Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palika spends to transport and manage this garbage. Yediyurappa said that Karnataka is taking a big leap in green energy by setting up such a plant under the Centre’s AatmaNirbhar Bharat policy and most of the equipment will be made in India.

State is planning to expand the plant in future and generate around 80.59 million units of power and supply it to the state grid. Yediyurappa added that Bengaluru will supply around 25 per cent of the waste to KPCL. Officials said that plant would begin operation from 2022 and the tender for construction of plant has been given to ISGES Heavy Engineering Limited, Noida and Hitachi Zosen India Private Limited. BBMP and KPCL will invest Rs 130 crore each in setting up the plant.