MARGAO
Five days after the 5TPD bio-methanation plant was commissioned at the SGPDA retail market complex, questions are being raised whether the Margao Municipal Council has set up any mechanism in place to tap the generation of power and bio-fertilizer at the plant.
The 5TPD bio-methanation plant has a capacity to generate 450 units of electricity a day, besides bio-fertilizer. Chief of Pune-based Ms Urja Bio-systems Pvt Ltd Dr Nitin Deshpande was categorical in saying the power and bio-fertiliser generated by the plant are the property of the Margao municipality.
This has brought to the fore the moot question of whether the MMC has put in place the mechanism to commercially tap the power generated by the bio-methanation plant or the bio-fertilizer that would be produced by the unit.
When this question was posed to Chief Officer Agnelo Fernandes, he said the MMC would tap the power generated by the bio-methanation plant. “I have already told the company to submit the detailed operation of the plant on a daily basis, including details of the waste treated by the plant and the energy and bio-fertilizer churned by the plant,” he said.
The CO added: “We will find out how to go about exploiting the energy generated at the plant. Whether we have to lay a cable to ensure that the power generated at the plant is sold to the grid, or whether it could be used to illuminate the market complex”.
Dr Nitin Deshpande was on record saying the MMC will earn a revenue of Rs 10,000 per day by way of electricity and bio-fertilizer produced by the 5TPD plant. While the plant has a potential to generate revenue for the civic body amounting to Rs three lakh a month, the MMC will be required to pay around Rs one lakh to the Pune-based agency as maintenance charges.
While the Pune-based agency will take care of the operation and maintenance of the Rs 2.30 crore bio-methanation plant for a period of five years, the civic body is required to provide five tones of vegetable, chicken, fish waste every day.
