Producing electricity from waste: Barriers need to be removed

While fossil fuel sources in our country are increasingly depleted, renewable energy sources (RE) from wind, solar, biomass from bagasse and rice husks are still underdeveloped, garbage is becoming a potential fuel source that can provide the national power system with a huge amount of electricity.

Waste can provide a huge source of electricity.

There are many barriers

According to current statistics, the total amount of municipal solid waste (MSW) in Vietnam is about 12.8 million tons/year. It is forecasted that by 2015, this number will be about 13.5 million tons/year, and by 2020 it will be 22 million tons/year.

Hanoi alone in the period 2015 - 2020 will discharge an average of 7,000 - 8,000 tons of garbage/day, Ho Chi Minh City (10,000 - 12,000 tons/day), Hai Phong and Dong Nai (5,000 - 6,000 tons/day)... This is a source that can provide stable fuel for waste-to-power plants with a capacity of 300 tons/day, equivalent to an output of nearly 350MW of electricity.

However, up to this point, Vietnam only has a project to build an industrial waste treatment system with a capacity of 75 tons/day at the Nam Son waste treatment complex in Hanoi that can generate electricity with a capacity of 1930kW, expected to be completed by the end of 2014. Previously, in 2006, Ho Chi Minh City also put into operation the Go Cat waste treatment plant with a capacity of 2.4 MW. However, the amount of electricity produced is very small.

Mr. Le Anh Tung - Chairman of the Board of Directors of Ecotech Vietnam Company - said that currently, solid waste in Vietnam is almost not classified from the source, the easily decomposable organic components are up to > 60%. The water content in waste is high (50 - 55%). Therefore, the calorific value of solid waste in Vietnam is very low, only from 1,200 - 1,500 kcal/kg. This is one of the biggest obstacles to the development of Waste - Power plants in Vietnam, if we cannot find suitable and effective technology. In particular, we must do a good job of classifying waste: Reduce moisture in waste, only select waste with high calorific value.

In addition, Mr. Nguyen Duc Cuong - Director of the Renewable Energy Center under the Institute of Energy (Ministry of Industry and Trade) - said that the price of biomass electricity has been low for a long time, making it difficult to attract investment in renewable energy projects. In addition, investors are also very concerned about licensing procedures. Because, with the current 2-year preparation roadmap, it is too long. In addition, there are land lease policies, output problems for waste electricity...

Localities are concerned that the investment rates of projects are too high while economic efficiency is limited.

There will be a separate mechanism for waste electricity.

According to Prof. Dr. Dang Kim Chi, Chairman of the Science and Technology Council (VACNE), the greatest efficiency of waste-to-power plants is to preserve the environment and contribute to ensuring energy security for the country.

It is expected that in 2014, the Prime Minister will issue a Decision on “Mechanism to support the development of power generation projects from solid waste in Vietnam”. In particular, it is expected that the electricity purchase and sale price at the delivery point for direct solid waste incineration projects will be 2,160 VND/kWh (equivalent to 10.05 USD/kWh). This price will help investors make a profit, initially encouraging the development of this type of electricity in Vietnam.

According to Mr. Le Anh Tung, Chairman of Ecotech Vietnam, to access the technology of waste treatment combined with power generation in Vietnam, Ecotech is proposing to cooperate in 3 projects: PPP project of 5,525 tons/day at the High-tech Waste Treatment Area in Bac Son commune (Soc Son - Hanoi), with a total estimated investment of 3,150 billion VND; BOT project of 1,000 tons/day at the Centralized Waste Treatment Area in Vinh Tan commune (Vinh Cuu - Dong Nai); FDI project of 500 - 1,000 tons/day at Lang Dai Treatment Area (Dat Do - Ba Ria Vung Tau). According to Mr. Tung, what Vietnam should focus on now is choosing the appropriate technology to both achieve economic efficiency and ensure the goal of environmental protection.

According to Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Le Duong Quang, electricity generation from waste is a relatively new issue in Vietnam. To attract investment, localities need to coordinate with relevant agencies to quickly remove barriers, have preferential policies, reasonable support, and create favorable conditions to attract foreign enterprises to invest in this field. The Ministry of Industry and Trade is ready to work with all parties to find solutions and build specific policy mechanisms to soon have solid waste treatment plants, especially factories from this waste. Electricity from waste will certainly have its own price mechanism, with incentives and incentives related to taxes, land rent, etc. Successful investment in electricity generation from waste will contribute to ensuring the correct implementation of the electricity development orientation in the National Power Development Plan.

According to baocongthuong