HH Dr. Sheikh Sultan Bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah, has inaugurated the Sharjah Waste-to-Energy plant, the first of its kind in the Middle East.
The Sharjah Waste-to-Energy plant is the first project of Emirates Waste to Energy, a joint venture established by BEEAH Energy, the renewable energy business of BEEAH Group, and Masdar, one of the world’s leading renewable energy companies.
The plant will enable Sharjah to become the Middle East’s first zero-waste city, turning unrecyclable waste into clean energy and increasing the current landfill diversion rate from 76 percent to 100 percent.
The plant, announced in 2018, will divert up to 300,000 tons of waste from landfills annually, supporting the achievement of the UAE’s goals for waste diversion and management.
The project will contribute to avoiding the emission of up to 450,000 tons of carbon dioxide annually, which supports the country’s efforts to implement the strategic initiative to achieve climate neutrality by 2050.
According to the statement, “The plant will produce 30 megawatts of low-carbon electricity, enough to supply electricity to about 28,000 homes in the UAE, and provide 45 million cubic meters of natural gas each year.”
Further, the plant includes systems to improve energy efficiency and reduce water consumption as well as meets the requirements of the best available technologies issued by the European Union, which sets the international standards adopted in this field.
Mr. Khaled Al Huraimel, Group CEO of BEEAH, said that, “In the implementation of the vision of His Highness the Ruler of Sharjah, BEEAH Group has achieved a qualitative achievement in the Emirate of Sharjah by raising the diversion of waste away from landfills at a rate of 76 percent, the highest in the Middle East, with the support of various recycling facilities that receive various types of waste.”
