The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) has submitted a representation to the Madhya Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission on the ‘Approach paper for fixation of norms for determination of tariff for procurement of power from municipal solid waste based power generating plants’ published by MPERC.
The tariff order will be applicable to all Municipal Solid Waste based power generating plants in Madhya Pradesh commissioned on or after the date of issue of the order for sale of electricity to the distribution licensees within the state.
The Ficci representation urges the MPERC to take up further consultation with the waste management industry before finalising the norms for tariff determination so as to make electricity generation from MSW a practicable and viable alternative. The representation clearly states that waste-to-energy plants should be treated as a scientific methodology for disposal of MSW, and power generation, resulting in value extraction, is incidental. To assume that such projects can sustain on sale of generated power will be far-fetched. Therefore, instead of looking it as an option to generate power, it should be treated as a the means to tackle the problem of municipal solid waste in an environmentally sound manner and should be facilitated by way of preferential tariff or tipping fee.
The representation also suggests that Municipal Solid Waste is very different in characteristics than biomass due to the moisture and dirt content in it, therefore, the technologies to treat them differ widely and the norms for power generation for MSW should not be comparable to biomass.
Waste management is a burgeoning problem in all states of the country. The rising population, limited availability of land, changing urban lifestyle and lack of adequate infrastructure are some of the reasons for this problem. Sustainable and long term Public-Private Partnerships are the only viable solution for this problem.
Ficci has been actively taking up issues related to Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) with the various ministries and departments to facilitate a conducive regulatory environment for effective public private partnerships for Waste Management.