US$2.6 billion waste-to-energy plants to be developed in Russia

An international consortium has announced its intention to develop a waste-to-energy project involving the construction of five waste-to-energy plants in Russia, four in the Moscow region and one in Kazan, the Republic of Tatarstan. The total cost of the project is estimated to be RUB150 billion (US$2.6 billion).

The consortium consists of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), the sovereign wealth fund of the Russian Federation, Japanese-Swiss developer Hitachi Zosen Inova, and RT-Invest, a company founded with the support of Rostec State Corporation.

The four plants constructed in the Moscow Region will have a total combined capacity of 2.8 million tonnes of municipal solid waste per year, which will generate about 280 MW of electricity annually. The implementation of the project will reduce the proportion of waste sent to landfill in the Moscow region by more than 25%.

The plant in Kazan will have an installed capacity of 55 MW, recycling up to 550,000 tonnes of municipal solid waste per year. Its commissioning will enable an end to the use of landfill sites for the disposal of waste in the region. 

The project functions as a major step towards the creation of an integrated waste management system throughout Russia. The developers intend to ensure that the development of technologies and production of equipment are adapted for the local economy to support the construction of similar facilities in the future.

This is Hitachi Zosen's second substantial waste-to-energy project initiated in 2018. In January the company won a build, operate and transfer (BOT) contract for a 171 MW-per-hour waste-to-energy plant in Dubai, alongside consortium partner BESIX. The plant will convert 5,000 tons of solid waste per day into energy, making it the largest in the world.