Goa-based garbage plant to generate power to supply to the State

Panaji, Jan 20 (KNN) The garbage strewn around Goa’s beaches will now pave way to make for the partial requirement of the power in the coastal state which is banking on neighbouring Maharashtra and Karnataka for electricity.

The plant operated by Hindustan Waste Treatment Private Limited (HWTPL) at Saligao village near Panaji has been generating 4,000 units of electricity from the waste it has been recycling. The waste is collected from the beaches of North Goa including Sinquerim, Candolim, Calangute and Baga.

“We have the capacity to generate 3,000 units more which can be exported to the State electricity grid. We have put up the proposal before the State government which has been under active consideration,” said Ganesh Kandaswamy, General Manager (Design and Engineering), HWTPL.

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar had launched the plant on May 30, last year, almost nine months ago.  After initial hiccups, the plant current treats more than 100 metric tones of garbage which is collected by several panchayats in the beach belt of North Goa.

“The plant treated huge amount of garbage during Christmas and New Year which was collected from different beaches which were littered by the tourists,” Kandaswamy said.

After encouraging response  from the panchayats located in the coastal belt, the plant now accepts 120-125 MT of garbage daily which is recycled in a scientific manner, one of the product which is generated is electricity.

Kandaswamy said 4,000 units which are generated are used within the plant, while additional power generation capacity can be used to transmit power to the State grid.

The electricity department officials have recently conducted inspection of the plant. It will take two months for us to export the power to State grid, once electricity department gives the clearance. (Rupesh Samant)