The La Chira Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP), built and operated under a 25-year concession by a consortium led by ACCIONA in partnership with the local company AENZA, has taken a major step forward in the sustainability of its operations by becoming the first WWTP in Peru to install a photovoltaic plant for electricity self-consumption.
The renewable energy unit consists of 160 solar panels, located onside the WWTP facilities, which will produce 127 MWh of electricity annually, enough to cover 25% of the plant's electricity consumption and avoid the emission of 22,895 tonnes of CO2 per year.
La Chira WWTP is located in the district of Chorrillos and treats 25% of the wastewater from 18 districts of Lima such as Miraflores, San Isidro, Santiago de Surco, Villa El Salvador and Chorrillos, providing a service to more than 2.5 million people in the capital.
La Chira treats an average 6.3 m3/sec of wastewater, making it the second largest wastewater treatment plant in the country in terms of capacity.
Its facilities have an advanced system for capturing and eliminating bad odours through a system of inorganic filters installed throughout the plant. It also includes an 800 metres+ tunnel at a depth of more than 23 metres, and a 3.6-kilometre-long underwater outfall to return the treated water to the sea.
The renewable energy unit consists of 160 solar panels, located onside the WWTP facilities, which will produce 127 MWh of electricity annually, enough to cover 25% of the plant's electricity consumption
Environmental regeneration
The La Chira WWTP has made a significant contribution to the decontamination of Metropolitan Lima’s beaches, improving the quality of life of people living nearby and boosting the development of coastal tourism and the local fishing industry.
The plant’s operation has made it possible to recover 17 kilometres of coastline that was a polluted area for many years: from Las Cascadas beach (Barranco) to Conchán beach (Lurín), by preventing the dumping of around 80,000 tonnes of waste into the sea, thus protecting the environment and enhancing the value of the coastal areas.
Since it entered service in June 2016 La Chira has treated more than 1.3 billion m3 of wastewater, extracting large solids, sand, floatables and waste products up to one millimetre in diameter.
