The Andhra Pradesh government on Tuesday signed power purchase agreements for four waste-to-energy plants proposed across key municipal regions, marking a major step towards scientific solid waste management and renewable energy generation.

The agreements were signed in the presence of Municipal Administration and Urban Development Minister Ponguru Narayana, who said the State is prioritising scientific processing of solid waste to protect the environment, improve urban sanitation and expand renewable energy capacity.

Under the PPAs, electricity generated from the waste-to-energy plants at Nellore, Kadapa and Kurnool will be procured by the Andhra Pradesh Southern Power Distribution Company Limited, while power from the Kakinada plant will be purchased by the Andhra Pradesh Eastern Power Distribution Company Limited. The process was coordinated by the Andhra Pradesh Power Coordination Committee on behalf of the DISCOMs, along with the Swachh Andhra Corporation representing the State government.

Narayana said the projects will be developed and operated by Jindal and Antony Lara. Jindal is setting up a 15 MW plant at Kakinada (Rameswaram), covering 21 municipalities with a waste-processing capacity of 957 tonnes per day, and a 12 MW plant at Nellore (Donthali), serving nine municipalities with a capacity of 604 tonnes per day.

Antony Lara is developing a 15 MW plant at Kadapa (Kolumulapalli), covering 18 municipalities with a processing capacity of 781 tonnes per day, and another 15 MW facility at Kurnool (Garveypuram), covering 13 municipalities with a capacity of 751 tonnes per day.

Together, the four plants will process about 3,093 tonnes of solid waste daily. At the tendering stage, additional waste-to-energy projects proposed at Vijayawada and Tirupati are expected to process another 1,600 tonnes per day.

The minister added that existing waste-to-energy plants at Guntur and Visakhapatnam are already operational, processing around 2,800 tonnes of waste per day and generating 35 MW of electricity. Once all eight plants across the State are operational, they will collectively process about 7,493 tonnes of waste daily and generate 119 MW of power.

Municipal Administration Principal Secretary S. Suresh Kumar said that, in line with the Chief Minister’s directions, the State has completely cleared 8.5 million tonnes of legacy waste by October 2 this year.