The plant requires 600 metric tons of dry waste properly every day to produce 11.5 MW of electricity. KPCL officials say that they are not getting more than 400 metric tonnes of waste from BBMP every day. , Photo Credit: Sudhakar Jain
On one hand, the civic administration is finding it difficult to manage waste in Bengaluru. On the other hand, the waste-to-energy (WTE) plant in Bidari, which is a joint venture of Karnataka Power Corporation Limited (KPCL) and Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palik (BBMP), is looking for more dry waste to produce energy, but it is not found.
Karnataka’s first WTE plant was set up on 10 acres of KPCL’s Vishal 163 acres of complex. While no waste processing plant can expect it to spread up to a few hundred meters, this plant, which spreads on four levels, looks surprisingly streamlined. Except for the place where the garbage is dumped and taken, there is no smell at any other place.
The life of five persons claimed in January after an accident, the plant resumed operations on 4 April. However, the plant is not able to generate 11.5 MW (megawatt) electricity every day, which has its full generation capacity due to lack of dried waste.
The plant requires 600 metric tons of dry waste properly every day to produce 11.5 MW of electricity. KPCL officials say that they are not getting more than 400 metric tonnes of waste from BBMP every day. Since the plant was commissioned in October 2024, it lasted for a total of 115 days, and the GDP has been 20.4636 million units (MUs).
KPC Gas Power Corporation Limited Satish Kumar H., Executive Engineer (Biddi), Satish Kumar H. Said, “We have received 67,529 metric tonnes of waste so far. If we get the required quantity of 600 tons in a day, we can produce 31 Mu more power.”
How the plant works
Once the garbage comes to the plant, it is dumped into a storage pit with a total capacity of 4,200 MT (to keep enough waste for power generation for a week). The waste is treated, and all moisture is removed before sending the combustion where it burns at high temperatures. This heat is used to heat water inside the boiler, which makes steam, which is then used to rotate turbines and produce electricity.
Electricity is extracted to integrate a bidadi sub-station in the grid. The fly ash exits through the chimney while the other ash is collected and is sent back to the landfill.
The waste required by the plant is called refuse-ritual fuel (RDF), which is essentially combustible waste, which is obtained at dried waste collection centers after sorting items, which can be recycled or rejuvenated. This RDF should ideally be free from metals, which obstruct the work of the plant.
KPCL officials say it is not with the RDF they receive.
“RDF often contains metals, which get stuck in gates.
The accident occurred in January when the workers were trying to get the metal out of the Greats.
KPCL officials said they are in meetings to continuously get high volume and better quality RDF with BBMP so that the plant, which costs 310 crores, can get maximum generation.
KPCL has planned to install solar panels in a major part of the 163 -acre complex to increase the overall generation capacity in Karnataka.
Mixed waste problem continues
A total of 5,000 tonnes of garbage is produced every day in the boundaries of Bruhat Bangalore Metropolitan Palik (BBMP). However, between it, only 2,000 tons are separated, while other 3,000 tonnes come in the form of mixed waste.
“The problem is that there is no separation at the source. We still get large amounts of mixed waste. We are creating awareness about separation, but this is not happening. In our next tender, we have decided to implement the rule that the waste collection should be only different,” Lokesh, Chief Engineer, Solid Waste Management (SWM), said BBMP.
Published – April 30, 2025 11:13 AM IST