Delhi Metro charges ahead, becomes country-wide rail pioneer by utilising power from a waste-to-energy plant

Adding another feather to its cap, Delhi Metro has become the first-ever project of its kind in the country to receive power generated from a waste-to-energy plant, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) said, with the initiative's intended agenda to conserve the environment coming as a breath of fresh air.

Continuing with its various environment-friendly initiatives, the Delhi Metro has started receiving 2 MW power from a 12 MW capacity plant of a company in Ghazipur, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation said in a statement.

"This will be the first-ever attempt by any metro project in the country to procure and utilise energy from waste-to-energy plants and thus contribute towards 'Swachh Bharat Mission' and also help in creating awareness about the importance of waste management," a DMRC spokesman said.

The DMRC is receiving the power since the beginning of this month from this facility, which is being utilised at the Vinod Nagar Receiving Sub-station (RSS) of DMRC for meeting the operation requirements of Pink Line metro. The DMRC will take approximately 17.5 MUs per annum from this plant. However, the energy offtake will depend upon the actual generation of the plant.

Delhi Metro has been working continuously towards the conservation of environment right since inception. It is the first-ever rail-based organisation in the world to claim carbon credits, the corporation said.

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The waste-to-energy (WtE) plant set up by East Delhi Waste Processing Company Limited (EDWPCL) is based on a public private partnership (PPP) comprising the government of Delhi, the EDMC and EDWPCL and is India's first Euro norms compliant WtE facility.

The WtE plant will mitigate over 8 million tons of greenhouse gases (GHG) over the life of the project, thus combating global warming, the DMRC said.

Currently, DMRC is producing 28 MW of solar power from the various roof-top solar power plants, which have been set up in its stations, depots and residential premises, officials said.

The DMRC has also started to receive solar power from the off-site solar power plant at Rewa in Madhya Pradesh and has further taken up the onus of planting 10 trees for each tree that is cut for site work. In addition, four lakh fewer vehicles are estimated to ply on the National Capital's roads on account of the Delhi Metro. 

The DMRC has also commissioned a facility at Rohini on a PPP model with IL&FS Environmental Infrastructure & Services Ltd (IEISL) for recycling of construction and demolition waste with a capacity of 150 tonnes per day, the statement said.