Abellon bags AMC's municipal solid waste processing project

Under the pact, AMC will deliver 1,000 tonnes per day of municipal waste to the site and provide 13 acres of land on lease for tenure of the project

Under a public-private partnership (PPP) model, city-based Abellon CleanEnergy has been awarded a municipal solid waste processing project by the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC). Having received a letter of award from the AMC, a concession agreement has been signed between Abellon and the corporation recently.

As part of the concession agreement, AMC will deliver 1000 tonnes per day (TPD) of municipal waste to the site and provide 13 acres of land on lease for the tenure of the project. On its part, Abellon will design, build, finance, and operate the plant.

"Abellon will, at the core of the plant, deploy proven international technology to thermally process and dispose waste and recover energy from it while maintaining strict control on emissions and environmental parameters. The green power generation capacity of the waste-to-energy plant is expected to be 13 - 14 MWh. The cost of the plant is expected to be significantly higher compared to conventional thermal or biomass based power plants as certain critical components need to be imported," said a company official on condition of anonymity.

Abellon is in the process of obtaining necessary clearances required for the project and is also working on various project financing options as well as options for the sale of green power generated from the plant. "We are in the process of fund raising and working towards financial close for the project, after which we expect the construction and commissioning to take approximately 24 months," said the company official. It needs to be mentioned here that the daily waste generation in Ahmedabad is estimated to be around 3,600 tonnes and the per capita waste generation in the city is estimated at around 0.4-0.6 kg per day.

Meanwhile, according to Abellon, waste-to-energy is an urban imperative and can play an important role to strengthen waste management infrastructure in cities while generating green power.