Dubai Municipality has announced that 85% of construction work on what’s billed as the world’s largest waste-to-energy project has been completed. The municipal body said that the Dubai Waste Management Centre (DWMC), which began construction in 2021, will push the emirate as a global model for sustainable development.
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 set to be ready by 2023. The entire project is scheduled to finish by 2024.
Dawoud Al Hajri, director general of Dubai Municipality, said that the DWMC provides an innovative solution to transforming huge quantities of waste into a sustainable source of clean energy. He pointed out that the centre reflects Dubai’s efforts to protect the environment by implementing state-of-the-art technologies.
He also 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 1.9m tonnes of waste annually and convert it into renewable energy, generating enough energy to power 135,000 homes,” Al Hajri said.
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 explained.
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 400,000sqm, 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. Once operational, 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 1,000t of bottom ash, which will be recycled and used in infrastructure projects.
Dubai Municipality said it has also 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.
