Finally, the largest Indian waste-to-energy plant was inaugurated at Narela-Bawana, a green project conceptualized way back in 2012, which was scheduled to open in 2014.
The waste-to-energy plant, built over 100 acres of land, was developed by Rampky Group, a waste management company in Hyderabad, through an agreement with the North Delhi Municipal Corporation, while the operational technology, used for the construction of the structure, has been sourced from American and Chinese companies. The delay in building the plant was due to a dispute between the company and the North Corporation over alleged violations of agreement.

The waste-to-energy plant, using solid waste to generate energy, is expected to provide respite from the four overflowing landfill sites located in Bhalswa (North Delhi), Ghazipur (East Delhi), Okhla (Delhi) and Narela-Bawana. The latter, considered the first scientifically engineered landfill in Delhi, is the only one that still has capacity left, while the other three reached the limit. These “garbage mountains” are a serious problem in India where a small spark or a lit match or a cigarette stub, can turn these places into hell. In 2016, the 40-hectare Bhalswa was ablaze for a whole week, causing worrying air pollution and and leading to health complaints from locals. Every day, 10000 tons of garbage of all kinds, such as cloth, glass, paper and plastic, are dumped in the landfills, because the refuse is not segregated. Officials said the plant will meet all environmental standards set by the Delhi Pollution Control Committee.

The new waste-to-energy plant is equipped with two boilers and is able to incinerate 2000 tonnes of solid waste per day to generate 24 megawatts energy, almost double the capacity of the existing two WTE plants in the capital. There are already two waste-to-energy plants in Dehli, in the Ghazipur and Okhla landfills. The Ghazipur plant uses about 2000 tonnes of rubbish and produces 12 megawatts energy. A similar situation at the Okhla landfill: the plant produces 12 MW energy from 1200 tonnes of waste.