KOCHI: Social activists and green experts have raised serious concerns over the feasibility of the waste-to-energy plant project at Brahmapuram which the corporation plans to complete in two years. In a letter to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, social activist and state secretary of Kerala Electricity Workers Federation (AITUC) Jacob Lazar has said the company which has got the contract to set up the plant has no proven track record in executing similar projects and sought his immediate intervention to drop it.
The agreement between the corporation and G.J. Nature Care Ltd says the latter has an efficient technology for generating power from solid waste through gasification and has 35 years experience in the sector. “There is no credential and proven track record to prove their claims and neither this company nor other companies in the consortium has any experience in waste to energy projects,” Mr Lazar said in his letter. “This is only a conspiracy and a bogus project to embezzle public money.”
Green experts point out that thermal treatment of solid waste for energy production is not feasible if the garbage has low calorific value. Municipal solid waste generated in the country has an average calorific value of 800 cal /kg. For combusting technology to be successful, waste would have about 2000 to 3000 cal/kg; otherwise auxiliary fuel has to be added.
