Gas plant meets hurdles in lack of enough waste

By Our Correspondent,Ghorahi, Jan. 15: As per the plan to produce gas from waste and supply it to households, a gas plant has been established in Ghorahi, but due to lack of waste, there has been a problem in its operation.

Despite beginning to produce gas from waste and distributing it to houses through pipes in Ghorahi Sub-Metropolitan City-16, Karautidanda from last year, the gas plant could not be fully operational.

Harisharan Shrestha, plant manager of Nepal Energy Development Company, said that the gas plant needs 25 tonnes of waste daily for its full operation, but now only 400 kg to 500 kg of waste is available. Despite all the preparations, the plant could not be fully operational due to the lack of waste, he said.

Shrestha said that the gas produced from waste is being distributed through pipes to only 34 houses in Ghorahi Sub-Metropolitan City-16, Garuwagaun. 

According to him, 60 to 65 cubic meters of gas is produced daily.

He said that when the gas plant is fully operational, about 2,000 cubic meters of gas can be produced daily. He said that if there is a lot of waste, the production will increase and there are preparations to distribute the gas according to the plan.

According to him, in the first phase, they have a plan to supply gas to 750 households, but he said that there is a problem in distributing it. He said, "For gas production, there is a problem in getting the waste and cow dung. As a result, there is a problem in supplying gas to consumers.''

He said that despite reaching to different areas of the district for waste, there is a problem in getting it. 

He said, "Initially, it was thought that it would be enough because there is a lot of garbage in Ghorahi. 

But now there is a problem to get enough garbage. Even after talking to other municipalities, we have not been able to get it.''

A tripartite agreement to produce gas from waste in Ghorahi was made between Alternative Energy Promotion Centre, Nepal Energy Development Company and Ghorahi Sub-Metropolitan City on November 21, 2018.

According to the agreement, it was decided that the Sub-Metropolitan City would provide land and Nepal Energy Development Company would invest 60 per cent and the Alternative Energy Promotion Centre would invest 40 per cent to operate the plant for the production of gas from waste. So far, more than Rs. 200 million has been spent for gas production from waste.

As per the agreement, the Ghorahi Sub-Metropolitan City has provided about three bighas of land for gas production. Laxman Adhikari, chief of Environment and Sanitation Section of Ghorahi Sub-Metropolitan City, said that there was a problem in the collection of waste required for industry due to the consumers not separating degradable and non-degradable waste.