Economic feasibility of energy recovery from solid waste in the light of Brazil's waste policy: The case of Rio de Janeiro

Energetic waste disposal has tremendous potential for generating alternative (renewable and non-conventional) energy from municipal solid waste (MSW), reducing greenhouse gas emissions, creating socio-economic and environmental benefits, and achieving a sustainable expansion of the energy sector. However, in spite of these tremendous benefits, the Brazilian MSW disposal market remains dominated by landfilling. In total, energetic MSW treatment plants in Brazil are expected to achieve an installed capacity of 12,400 MW by 2020 and 17,550 MW by 2030 respectively. Investments into wind, small-scale hydro, and biomass plants will exceed R$ 69 billions between 2011 and 2020. This paper aims to assess the implications of Brazil's National Policy on Solid Waste (PNRS) on the economic feasibility of different energetic MSW treatment facilities. Therefore, the PNRS is comprehensively analysed, particularly those areas that outline the decision-making criteria for future investments. These criteria are then applied to the specific case of Rio de Janeiro, first by examining the municipality's current state of MSW management and second by examining 20 hypothetical future investment projects into three different energetic MSW treatment technologies. The case study delivers crucial information about the economic feasibility of the considered technologies by addressing specific provisions in the Brazilian legal framework and by applying relevant country-specific financial incentives, designed to encourage investments into renewable energies. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.