First electricity from the world’s largest WtE facility

Above: Dubai waste-to-energy plant (photo: Hitachi Zosen Inova)

Joint venture partners Hitachi Zosen Inova and BESIX began construction in 2020. When fully operational, expected July 2024, the iconic facility will accelerate the City of Dubai’s move away from landfill dependency.

As of July 2023, with over 2200 construction people on site, hot commissioning was proceeding on two of the facility’s five combustion lines and they were generating power and transmitting it to the grid. Deliveries of more than 2000 tonnes of municipal solid waste were arriving at the site each day. The three remaining lines will be commissioned in due course.

Once fully operational, the new plant will treat over 1.9 million tonnes of waste per year, significantly reducing the UAE’s landfill dependence and helping Dubai achieve its goal of 75% landfill diversion by 2025.

Another recent success for Hitachi Zosen Inova was its selection by Entsorgung + Recycling Zurich to build a new line at the Hagenholz waste-to-energy facility, close to the city’s airport. When operational in 2026, the new, highly efficient, line will increase by 50% the plant’s capacity to treat non-recyclable municipal waste from the city and canton of Zurich, generating electricity to power and heating local homes and businesses.

A two-line WtE facility has been located at the Hagenholz site since 1969, with the original lines replaced in 2008 and 2010. Now Entsorgung + Recycling Zurich has selected HZI to deliver a new third line and the fifth boiler to be built on the same site, which will increase the treatment capacity by 120 000 tonnes of waste per year. The new line will generate 48 MW of thermal power and facilitate the extension of Zurich’s existing district heating system, for which the city’s electorate recently approved a loan of 330 million Swiss francs. Significantly, the heat produced will markedly reduce the need for the oil and gas powered heating systems currently used by homes and industry in the city, contributing to both a reduction in Zurich’s carbon footprint and enhanced supply security, with less dependence on energy imports.

Notice to proceed was given on 6 September 2023, signalling the start of the build phase. Once fully commissioned, operation of the new line will start in December 2026, producing much-needed electricity and steam for Zurich’s expanding district heating infrastructure.