85% of World’s Largest Waste-to-Energy Project Completed
Dubai Municipality has announced that 85% of construction work on the world’s largest waste-to-energy project has been completed.
Waste-to-energy in Dubai
In a statement, the Municipality said that the Dubai Waste Management Centre (DWMC) began construction in 2021, in line with the vision of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to push the emirate as a global model for sustainable development.
Therefore, the DWMC will reflects this commitment towards achieving sustainable development goals and reducing the emirate’s carbon footprint, the statement continued. The project will contribute to Dubai Municipality’s strategic objective of reducing and completely diverting waste from landfills by 2030. Located in Dubai’s Al Warsan area, the first-of-its-kind project will convert 45% of the emirate’s municipal waste into renewable energy once complete, it said.
Construction of the waste management centre is on schedule, with the first phase of the world’s most efficient energy project set to be ready by 2023. The entire project is scheduled to finish by 2024.
Dawoud Al Hajri, Director General of Dubai Municipality, reiterated that the centre will be a crucial pillar of Dubai’s ambition to transform into one of the world’s most sustainable cities. The plant, he said, provides an innovative solution to transforming huge quantities of waste into a sustainable source of clean energy.
Al Hajri pointed out that the centre reflects Dubai’s efforts to protect the environment by implementing state-of-the-art technologies. He noted that DWMC will boost the emirate’s sustainability credentials, in line with national energy objectives and the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050, which aim to make Dubai a global centre of clean energy and green economy.
“Dubai has always sought to be a pioneer in the field of waste-to-energy. By reducing the amount of solid waste and providing alternative sources for generating clean energy, the project will contribute to achieving a sustainable and eco-friendly model of waste management. With the world’s largest operational capacity, DWMC will process 1.9 million tonnes of waste annually and convert it into renewable energy, generating enough energy to power 135,000 homes,” Al Hajri said.
Coping with Growing Population in Dubai
Dubai’s population is expected to continue growing at an increasingly rapid pace thanks to a surge in economic activities. As such, the project would significantly minimise the potential volume of municipal waste in landfills and create alternative energy sources, he said.
Once fully operational, the plant’s renewable energy, generated from treating waste, will feed the local electricity grid with 215MWh of clean energy. Through two of its five treatment lines, the centre will commence its initial operations at 40% by early 2023. It will process 2,000 tonnes of solid waste to produce 80MWh of renewable energy at this stage.
Covering an area of 400,000 square meters, the facility’s generator and steam turbine, a key technology in producing electricity, have already been installed. The centre will rely on state-of-the-art Japanese and Swiss technologies for the treatment process that will ensure any emissions are environmentally friendly and odour-free.
The centre will receive around 1,000 truckloads of waste daily, with a capacity to accommodate 88 trucks per hour. Through five treatment lines, the DWMC will have the capacity to process 5,666 tonnes of solid municipal waste per day. Burnt waste will produce around 1,000 tonnes of bottom ash, which will be recycled and used in infrastructure projects.
Dubai Municipality has launched an e-platform to exchange recyclable and reusable materials for reducing the quantities of waste produced and raising the percentage of waste diverted from landfills.