This sure sounds like a good alternative energy--China's cities can support hundreds of waste-to-energy power plants
Shanghai. (Interfax-China) - In the leafy southeast of Shanghai, one of the country's biggest waste-to-energy power generators, the Yuqiao Garbage Power Plant, is processing about 1,000 tons of rubbish every day, handling the waste output of about 1.5 mln local urban residents. With the two 8,500 kW generating units, the plant can produce 100 mln kWh of electricity a year.
The plant, backed by the state-owned Pudong Development Group, is one of just two such facilities in Shanghai, but more ought to be on the way, officials told Interfax during a visit to the site.
Large trucks swarm around the rear of the plant and dump waste from the surrounding areas into a storage facility capable of holding 5,000 tons. French technology enables the odorous gases to be blown into the furnace and burnt with the rest of the garbage. After that, gases at a heat of 800-1,100 degrees centigrade are purified and the slag discharged. The gas then boils the water, producing the steam required to run the turbines.
Purification facilities then treat the poisonous fumes, neutralize the acids and use ammonia to control the emissions of nitrous oxide. The emission standards at the plant, officials said, are the same as in the European Union, and well in advance of national Chinese policy.
John Cheng, the Deputy General Manager of the Shanghai Pucheng Thermal Power Energy Co. Ltd., in charge of Yuqiao, told Interfax in an interview that China's large and heavily-populated cities need to find new ways to deal with massive amounts of waste and that "at least 100 plants like this will be built" in the near future.
With land resources in Shanghai severely limited, the landfill option is becoming increasingly unacceptable, wasting and ruining the city's land and often contaminating its water supplies, he said.
One problem, Cheng noted, is the fact that there is no policy on waste collection in Shanghai. "There are enough people collecting rubbish in order to earn their living," he noted, "but when average earnings rise, these people will not be willing to do such work, and the government will have to come out with a policy to solve the problem."
The Yuqiao plant was backed heavily by the local authorities, with a total investment of RMB 600 mln (USD 72.49 mln) paid in part through loans issued by the French government. Pucheng Thermal Power was partially privatized last year following a bidding process. The Italian consortium, Impregilo, now owns 50% of the waste-to-energy facility.
Cheng is positive about the opportunities available in the Chinese waste-to-energy industry. "The question is how much each person is producing in waste," he added. "It depends on GDP. In Taiwan, each person produces 0.8 kg a day. Here [in Shanghai] they produce 0.4 kg." That figure will certainly rise as the city becomes more prosperous, he said.
interfax.com |
