The Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation Limited (KSIDC) has invited bids to develop a solid waste management project integrated with a waste-to-energy plant with a minimum processing capacity of 300 tons per day. The project should have a production capacity of 5 MW for the Ernakulam cluster operating in the state of Kerala. The cluster consists of local self-government institutions, including the municipalities.

It is an invite for global competitive bidding from entities to execute the project in partnership with the government of Kerala (public-private partnership) under design, build, finance, operate, and transfer model.

The last date for the submission of bids is August 04, 2020, and the pre-bid meeting will take place on July 06,2020. Interested bidders will have to submit an amount of ₹10 million (~$132,412) as the earnest money deposit (EMD), and the timeline for the completion of the project has been set as 24 months.

To take part in the bidding process, the bidder should have been operating for the last three financial years. The bidder should have experience of executing at least one waste-to-energy project of a minimum of 1 MW capacity in the last five years or operating a 1 MW waste-to-energy project for one year in the last five years. In the case of a consortium, at least one member of the consortium should meet the above criterion. The number of members in a consortium would be limited to five.

The bidder should have a minimum net worth of ₹250 million (~$3.3 million). In the case of a consortium, the lead member should be holding at least 26% of the paid-up capital and subscribed equity of the special purpose vehicle.

Recently, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy announced that its waste-to-energy program would be extended beyond March 31, 2020. It said that the program would continue without any changes to its scope, nature, or coverage. No new posts will be created until March 31, 2021. The objective of the program is to promote setting up projects for generating biogas, bio-CNG, or power from urban, industrial, and agricultural waste.

In March, the MNRE issued revised guidelines for its waste to energy program. The new guidelines were to supersede the existing guidelines which were issued on July 30, 2018. One new addition to the guidelines was the inclusion of MSW-based projects, based on the clarification by the Department of Expenditure.

In December 2019, Mercom had reported that India had by then set up 186 waste-to-energy projects for the generation of biogas, bio-CNG power with a cumulative capacity of 317.03 MW. Out of the 186 projects, five projects are based on municipality solid waste, thus generating a total capacity of 66.5 MW of energy. Meanwhile, 181 projects are agricultural, urban, and industrial waste-based waste-to-energy projects.