Veolia has been appointed to operate Turkey's first waste-based energy production plant in Istanbul, the largest in Europe, the French environmental services giant announced on Friday.
The plant, built by the municipality, will treat approximately 1.1 million tonnes of non-recyclable household waste per year, to produce thanks to its three boilers and its turbine 560,000 MWh, enough to supply 1.4 million inhabitants with electricity. .
While Turkey derives much of its power from gas and coal, the site will save nearly 1.5 million tonnes of carbon emissions per year, according to Veolia.
"
The launch of Turkey's first-scale waste-to-energy plant and the largest in Europe represents a historic milestone in the sustainable development of our country
," commented Özgür Bariskan, Deputy General Manager of Istac, the waste management company of the Istanbul metropolis, quoted in the Veolia press release.
Istac manages 8 million tons of municipal solid waste per year in Istanbul, with 40 operational units and more than 4000 employees.
For Estelle Brachlianoff, CEO of Veolia, the new plant is “
an important step forward in the management of waste and energy in Istanbul
”, which in particular makes it possible to avoid the use of landfill.
The contract represents several tens of millions of euros per year, specified the leader of the group, which already operates around sixty factories of this type in the world.
"
And this is not the end of the story
" in Turkey, she added, stressing that Istanbul in particular has other projects of this type and in recycling.
Historical leader in water and waste management, Veolia is also growing in energy production, a sector which now represents 10 billion euros in turnover out of a total of 43 billion.
