There are seven waste-to-energy power plants in Iran with a capacity of 14 megawatts, most of which are either closed or working at half capacity due to technical, economic or legal hurdles, says the head of Economic, Social and Environmental Studies Office at the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Organization (Satba).
“Negotiations are underway among the Energy Ministry, Interior Ministry and the Department of Environment to overcome the obstacles and add to the current low capacity,” ISNA also quoted Reza Samadi as saying.
If talks yield positive results, biomass plants with a total capacity of 400 MW will be built by the private sector, he added.
The official noted that the construction of such plants can generate 3 billion kilowatt hours of electricity annually and save 850 million cubic meters of natural gas as feedstock per year.
“Close to 58,000 tons of waste are produced in Iran per day, of which less than 20% are recycled and the rest is buried in landfills, causing water and soil pollution,” he said.
According to the official, private investors should get the permits from the municipality to implement projects on the basis of build-operate-transfer (BOT) contracts.
Samadi said Satba has guaranteed the purchase of electricity from WTE facilities for at least five years.
WTE plants will gradually lead to the closure of landfills and collection of landfill leachate — liquid contaminated with landfill pollutants — and prevent it from seeping into underground water.
A waste-to-energy plant is a factory that converts solid waste into electricity and/or heat - an ecological, cost-effective way of energy recovery. This is being increasingly considered a potential diversification approach, as nations struggle to curb carbon emissions, climate change and their dangerous impact on health.
Incinerating a ton of waste can produce 500-600 kilowatts of electricity per hour, while preventing water and soil contamination.
According to studies, an incineration plant with a 1 MW capacity can reduce carbon emission by 50,000 tons per year, whereas a wind plant with the same capacity can reduce emissions by a maximum 5,000 tons.
Garbage in Iran is traditionally buried in landfills, but as population growth continues, so does the mountain of waste. Municipalities across the world are running out of time in finding sustainable solutions.
