New Delhi, Nov 12 (IANS): In an endeavour towards sustainable development, NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam (NVVN) Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of NTPC Ltd, has signed an agreement with Varanasi Nagar Nigam for setting up a Waste to Energy (WTE) Plant worth Rs 180 crore.

The plant shall help in mitigating environmental hazards caused by solid waste and bring clean surroundings contributing towards the Prime Minister's vision of Swachh Bharat. NVVN has placed the order for EPC contract work of the plant today for fast execution of the project, a company statement said.

Setting up the plant shall be a milestone for the holy city of Varanasi towards Atmanirbhar Bharat using the latest indigenous Make in India technology for solid waste management in the country. Varanasi Nagar Nigam has allocated about 20 acres of land at Ramana for setting up the plant.

The agreement was signed between NVVN and Dushyant Kumar Maurya, Additional Municipal Commissioner of Varanasi.

The plant with a waste segregation facility of 600- 800 tons per day of Municipal Solid Waste will be installed under the project. Further, this waste will be processed and fed into the reactor to produce torrefied charcoal.

The torrefied charcoal which is similar to natural coal can be successfully blended with fuel in thermal power plants to produce electricity. The process is environmentally-friendly as the temperature is lower than other technologies, due to which there are no toxic emissions.

Recently, NVVN signed a similar agreement with Bhopal Municipal Corporation.