Goa Government to review feasibility for waste to energy plant
The state government of Goa is soon to sign an agreement with the Environment Research Institute of Sweden to carry out the feasibility study for setting up a waste-to-energy plant in the state.
For setting up a waste-to-energy plant at Verna, an agreement will soon signed by Goa Waste Management Corporation (GWMC) and IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute, for the undertaking of feasibility studies – informed Michael Lobo, Minister of Waste Management, Science and Technology, Port and Rural Development of Goa, recently.
In this regard, a team from Goa that was led by Lobo visited Sweden and Norway earlier in October 2019, where they visited several wastewater incineration facilities. The team also held a consultation meeting with the institute during the visit.
Post this consultation meeting, a proposal was submitted by the institute for carrying out the pre-feasibility studies to develop the facility. The scope of work of this pre-feasibility studies by the institute includes, survey the quality and quantity of waste, plant location, system evaluation, technical evaluation, stakeholder analysis, institutional factors, financial assessment, implementation strategy of the project, and the step forward.
This was put for the approval of the GWMC Board of Directors that subsequently gave a go-ahead for the institute’s appointment to conduct the feasibility studies for a study fee amounting to EUR 35000 (approximately INR 31 lakh).
A draft agreement was submitted to IVL for comments and suggestions between GWMC and the Institute in regard to pre-feasibility and feasibility studies. The institute subsequently submitted a revised agreement, for further evaluation. The GWMC’s legal counsel and an internal auditor evaluated the revised draft agreement.
The minister stated that the plant would be spread around 1.5 lakh sq. of land, so as to treat all refuse-derived fuels (RDF) in the state. Apart from the generation of electricity from the waste-to-energy plant, it will also help in the disposal of the RDF retrieved from the remediation of legacy dumps.
Goa currently collects approximately 55 tonnes of RDF per day, which comprises fo 30 tonnes from the Saligao waste management plant and 25 tonnes from village panchayats. In Verna, the RDF is baled and further sent for co-incineration to cement plants.
