Moving a step closer towards becoming an environmentally friendly network, the Delhi Metro has now become the first ever Metro project in the country to receive power generated from a waste-to-energy plant

The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) on Tuesday said that it has started receiving 2 MW power from a 12 MW capacity plant in Ghazipur.

“This will be the first-ever attempt by any metro project in the country to procure and utilise energy from waste-to-energy plants and thus contribute towards ‘Swachh Bharat Mission’ and also help in creating awareness about the importance of waste management,” a statement issued by the DMRC read.

The Delhi Metro started receiving power from this facility since the beginning of this month. The power generated from the plant is at present being utilised at the Vinod Nagar Receiving Sub-station (RSS) of DMRC for meeting the operation requirements of Pink Line metro (connecting Majlis Park and Shiv Vihar).

Senior Metro officials said that the DMRC will take approximately 17.5 million units per annum from this plant. They, however clarified the energy off-take will depend upon the actual generation of the plant.

The waste-to-energy plant set up by East Delhi Waste Processing Company Limited (EDWPCL) is based on a public private partnership (PPP) involving the Delhi government, the East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) and EDWPCL.

“The state-of-the-art facility can process over 1,500 tonnes per day (TPD) of waste and generate 12 MW of green power. The plant is India’s first Euro norms compliant waste-to-energy facility,” the Metro said

The waste-to-energy plant will mitigate over 8 million tons of greenhouse gases (GHG) over the life of the project, thus combating global warming, the DMRC said.

At present, DMRC is getting more than 100 MW of solar power, out of which 77 MW is being generated from Madhya Pradesh’s Ultra Mega Solar Plant and the remaining 28 MW is being drawn from rooftop solar plants.

During construction also, DMRC plants 10 trees for each tree that is cut for site work. Close to four lakh vehicles are being removed from the streets because of the Delhi metro.

First Published: Jun 05, 2019 11:20 IST