Question : Electricity from Solid Waste

(a) whether the Government has issued a circular to all power distribution companies making it mandatory for them to buy electricity from power plants fuelled by solid waste, if so, the details thereof;

(b) whether the Government would impose severe penalties on them, an entitlement that comes from the recent amendment of the Electricity Regulatory Act, 2013 in case the companies brush aside the instructions, if so, the details thereof;

(c) the quantum of electricity expected to be generated during the current year and the next five years from solid waste run plants; and

(d) whether the Union Government has offered any financial assistance to the States for setting up of those plants and if so, the details thereof; and

(e) whether the Government would spend Rs. 38,000 crore on building solid waste management infrastructure across the country and the road to arriving at energy generation is still long but the Ministry has made a significant progress in setting up an effective door-to-door collection and transportation of solid waste, if so, the details thereof and present status thereof ?

THE MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) FOR POWER,
COAL AND NEW & RENEWABLE ENERGY

( SHRI PIYUSH GOYAL )

(a) & (b) : Yes, Madam. Ministry of Power vide notification dated 28.01.2016 has notified the revised Tariff Policy which mandates the distribution licensee to procure 100% of power produced from waste to energy plant. The provision of the policy is reproduced below:
6.4(1) (ii): Distribution Licensee (s) shall compulsorily procure 100% power produced from all the Waste-to-energy plants in the State, in the ratio of their procurement of power from all sources including their own, at the tariff determined by the Appropriate Commission under section 62 of the Act.



Further, in the Electricity (Amendment) Bill, 2014 introduced in Parliament on 19.12.2014, the Waste, including municipal and solid waste, has been proposed to be included in the definition of "Renewable Energy Sources". In addition, section 142 of the said Bill provides for penalty provisions on the generating company and licensees not complying with the Renewable Purchase Obligation and Renewable Generation Obligation.
(c) : At present, there are five waste to energy plant in operation in the country with a total power generation capacity of 53 MW. In addition, six waste to energy plants with a total power generation capacity of 68.7 MW are expected to be commissioned by this year. Therefore, a total of 121.7 MW of power generation capacity is expected from waste to energy plants in the current year.
Further, another 23 waste to energy plants are under various stages of construction and tendering phase and are expected to be commissioned by 2021. The total power generation capacity of these plants after commissioning will be 243.7 MW. Therefore, a total of 365.4 MW of power generation capacity is expected from the waste to energy plants in the next five years in the Country.
(d) & (e) : Government of India is implementing "Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) since 2nd October, 2014 with the target to make the country clean by 2nd October 2019. One of the admissible components under SBM is solid waste management including collection, transportation, processing treatment and disposal of solid waste with Central Support up to 20% of the project cost in the form of Viability Gap Funding (VGF)/Grant. The remaining funds have to be generated by State Government/Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) contribution/through private sector participation. During mission period, total cost for Solid Waste Management under Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban) is ` 36,828/- Crore of which Government of India share is ` 7366/- Crore.

***********