Masdar, Bee’ah to build massive waste-to-energy plant in Sharjah

Abu Dhabi clean energy company Masdar has announced plans to develop a 300,000 tonne waste-to-energy plant in Sharjah, in partnership with environmental management company Bee’ah.

The plant will divert 300,000 tonnes of solid waste from landfills each year, a statement said. It will incinerate up to 37.5 tonnes of solid waste per hour to create 30 megawatts (MW) of energy.

The plant will be linked to Bee’ah’s auxiliary waste-to-energy project, which will eventually produce a total of 90MW and will be supplied to the Sharjah electricity grid.

Bee’ah collects approximately 2.3 million tonnes of waste from nearly one million households in Sharjah each year, diverting around 70 per cent of its collected waste to its recycling waste management facilities from landfill.

The new plant is also hoped to help Sharjah reach its ‘zero waste-to-landfill’ target by 2020 – and the UAE deliver on its 2021 goal of diverting 75 per cent of solid waste from landfills.

Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi, CEO of Masdar, said: “With GCC countries having among the highest rates of per-capita waste production in the world, sustainable waste management solutions are both critically important and a clear business opportunity.”

The company is also adopting waste management solutions in the development of Masdar City in Abu Dhabi. Its on-site construction waste management demonstration project reuses and recycles waste building materials from the City’s construction, including metal, plastic, wood and construction aggregate.

The UAE is focussing heavily on renewable energy and recently unveiled its Energy Plan 2050 as part of which it plans to invest up to Dhs600bn on generating power from clean energy sources.

The plan aims to increase the contribution of clean energy in the total energy mix to 50 per cent by 2050. The UAE is targeting an energy mix that combines renewable, nuclear and clean energy sources.

The plan also hopes to increase consumption efficiency of individuals and corporates by 40 per cent, and enable savings of Dhs700bn.

Read more: UAE to invest Dhs600bn by 2050 in clean energy strategy