Goregaon temple turns its wet waste into electricity

MUMBAI: The wet waste generated in the premises of one of the biggest temple trusts in Mumbai has shifted towards a renewable energy for its power consumption. The temple has set up a hybrid system, a combination of biogas plant and solar panels to produce electricity from wet waste generated in the temple.

In an attempt to make temple premises green, the Ayappa Seva Samgham temple at Goregaon, Bangur Nagar, set up solar panels and converted its existing biogas plant to produce electricity. The temple generates up to 500 kilograms of wet waste including all the floral offerings which will be treated in the premises itself. To ensure the reuse of waste water generated from the temple premises, temple authorities will soon set up water treatment plant.

Retired Colonel Chandrashekhar Unni, Joint Secretary of the temple trust said, “We had the biogas plant setup and the gas produced was used for small purposes but we decided to better the system thus not only a setup was added to convert the gas into electricity but solar panels too were added and the electricity which will be generated will now help us light up a small community hall”.

Unni also said, “Currently the set-up is at a pilot level hence only two solar panels have been added. Our final aim is to ensure that we can power the entire premises using renewable energy by next year. Every month we want to increase the output of both solar as well as biogas plant.”

He also added that they even plan to approach nearby temples to collect their wet waste and use it for the biogas plant.

Harish Mistry, a resident of Malad who has helped the temple trust by providing the biogas plant and setting up solar panels, said, “This would soon become a model temple for visitors to understand renewable energy and its generation. We have set up a system where all the wet waste is put into the biogas digester and the anaerobic composting releases methane gas which is converted into electricity with fuel cells. To improve the capacity we have added solar panels and the electricity generated will be stored in batteries or invertor”.