New Delhi: Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) is awaiting approvals to expand two waste-to-energy plants to ease pressure on the city’s overburdened landfills. The civic body is expecting environmental clearance for the expansion of the Tehkhand plant by the end of Feb. Officials said the proposal was scheduled to be placed before the environment committee of the Union environment ministry in the first week of Feb.
“We have already made detailed submissions and the process of considering public objections was completed earlier. Considering that the deadline for expanding the capacity of the plant from 2,000 metric tonnes (MT) per day to 3,000MT is Dec 2027, we are making best efforts to accelerate the process,” an official said. Four members of a ministry subcommittee, including the member secretary, had visited the Tehkhand plant on Nov 19 and submitted its report. “With the increase in the capacity, power generation will rise from 25 megawatts (MW) per day to 45MW. The expansion will also include the capability to produce up to 20,000 cubic metres of biogas daily from green waste, which can be converted into around eight tonnes of bio-CNG,” the official added.MCD is also in the process of executing a supplementary deed with the private concessionaire operating the Okhla waste-to-energy plant. The civic body has written to New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) seeking formal permission before signing an extended land lease agreement of 20 years with the current concessionaire and implementing the proposed plan. The land on which the Okhla plant is located belongs to NDMC and any expansion can be undertaken only after its approval. “The concessionaire has already placed orders for boilers and is procuring other equipment,” the official said. The supplementary deed is required to formally incorporate the revised processing capacity, implementation timelines and additional responsibilities of the concessionaire. An NDMC official confirmed that the documents received from MCD were under examination.MCD received environmental clearance in 2023 for the Okhla expansion from 1,950MT to 2,950MT per day, along with an increase in power generation from 23MW to 40MW per day. The deadline for the completion of the plan is March 2027. Delhi generates around 11,500MT of municipal solid waste daily, of which only about 7,500MT is processed at the waste-to-energy plants. While three facilities are operational at Okhla, Ghazipur and Narela-Bawana, their combined capacity remains inadequate.
