UAE’s first commercial waste-to-energy plant to power 28,000 homes

A new commercial scale waste-to-energy plant inaugurated in Sharjah, one of the seven emirates in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will produce enough electricity to power 28,000 homes per year and help the government to achieve its goal to become the Middle East’s first zero-waste city.

The Emirates Waste to Energy company, a joint venture between Sharjah-headquartered Beeah Abu Dhabi-based Masdar, was inaugurated on Tuesday and is the Middle East’s first commercial scale plant of its kind.

First announced in 2018, the plant will divert up to 300,000 tonnes of waste away from landfills each year. Sharjah currently diverts 76 percent of its waste from landfill sites, and it is aiming to soon be the Middle East’s first zero-waste city.

The plant works by processing the waste at high temperatures, with the resulting heat captured in a boiler and the steam used to power a turbine to produce electricity. The combusted waste will produce 30 megawatts (MW) of low-carbon electricity, enough to power 28,000 homes in Sharjah, saving 45 million cubic metres of natural gas per year.

Dr Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and Chairman of Masdar, said: “By turning waste into energy, this new plant exemplifies the economic benefits of sustainable energy production and a low carbon development pathway. The use of this technology reduces waste and landfill use, creates valuable low carbon energy and introduces a new sustainable industry to our region.”