MCD gets green nod for Tehkhand WTE

New Delhi: In a major relief for Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), the ministry of environment, forest and climate change has granted environmental clearance (EC) for the expansion of the waste-to-energy (WTE) plant at Tehkhand, paving the way for the long-pending project to move forward. With the approval, work can start at the site officially. The project is expected to accelerate efforts to augment Delhi’s waste-processing capacity and reduce the burden on existing landfill sites. Under the implementation schedule, the expanded facility is required to be commissioned by Dec 2027. Its capacity will increase from 2,000 MT to 3,000 MT per day while power generation will rise from 25 MW to 45 MW. The plant, spread over 6 hectares, is compliant with EC conditions, having obtained necessary clearances and NOCs from the departments concerned. The expansion will be carried out at the site using RDF combustion-based reciprocating forward-feed grate technology. The system incinerates processed municipal and industrial waste on a moving, stair-like mechanical platform that continuously pushes and mixes the waste, efficiently converting it into heat and electricity. Officials said the expanded facility will include a material recovery facility (pre-sorting), RDF fuel pit, incinerators, boilers and steam turbine generators, adding 20 MW of power-generation capacity. It will also be capable of producing up to 20,000 cubic metres of biogas daily from green waste, which can be converted into about eight tonnes of bio-CNG. MCD had signed a supplementary agreement with the concessionaire to formally incorporate the revised capacity, implementation timeline and additional responsibilities under the project. As part of the EC conditions, a greenbelt covering 33% of the plot area, or 2 hectares, has been developed within the plant boundary. Another 1.6 hectares will be developed in coordination with MCD on adjacent landfill land, taking the total greenbelt area to 3.7 hectares. Authorities have also been directed to submit six-monthly compliance reports, including the results of environmental monitoring. Officials said a meeting with DERC is scheduled on June 11 for tariff determination. “The tariff will be based on the project cost presented by the concessionaire. However, if the cost goes higher, then we might consider option of viability gap funding to bring it down. We followed the same process in case of the Okhla WTE plant, where the tariff suggested by the concessionaire was higher and we contributed VGF of Rs 50 crore,” said an official. The Tehkhand expansion remained stalled for months due to pending environmental clearance. Further delay would have impacted the commissioning deadline, said officials. Currently, Delhi generates 12,847 MT of waste daily across its 250 wards. The city’s existing waste-processing capacity stands at 7,642 MT per day, including the Okhla WTE plant (1,550 TPD), Narela-Bawana plant (2,400 TPD), Ghazipur plant (1,300 TPD) and Tehkhand plant (2,000 TPD), established in 2023. Together, these facilities generate 84 MW of electricity. The remaining waste is dumped at the Okhla, Ghazipur and Bhalswa landfills. To bridge the gap, work is underway for expansion of the Okhla WTE plant and increasing processing capacity from 1,950 MT to 2,950 MT per day and power generation from 23 MW to 40 MW by March 2027. Plants will also be set up at Ghazipur and Bawana.