Sustainable Development Goals
PROJECT INFORMATION AT A GLANCE:
Project Status:
Operating commercial reference
Organizations Involved:
A2A Ambiente, City of Naples, Fisia Italimpianti SpA, Impregilo SpA, Kommunal GmbH, Deutsche Anlagen GmbH, EVO Energieversorgung Oberhausen AG, Partenope Ambiente
Services / Equipment:
Design & Engineering, Due Diligence, Consulting
More than 11 million tonnes of residual waste treated and over 10 TWh of electricity generated across the operating history reported by Campania’s environmental agency, ARPAC. The Acerra waste-to-energy plant demonstrates the scale of value that an essential waste-treatment service can create when it is engineered as regional power infrastructure.
The facility combines three parallel combustion and flue-gas treatment lines with a shared steam turbine and generator. Its original reference design handles approximately 600,000 tonnes per year, with electricity generation above 100 MW at nominal plant scale. Fisia Italimpianti’s technical account describes annual production of 600 GWh, equivalent to the electricity needs of approximately 200,000 households.
For municipalities and infrastructure investors, the significance is the connection between a continuing public-service need and a marketable energy output. Acerra brings waste acceptance, energy recovery, environmental control and operating oversight into one industrial system.
The Challenge
Create a dependable outlet for the waste that remains after recycling
Campania needed substantial treatment capacity for residual waste. Separate collection and material recovery leave a fraction that still requires a managed destination. Landfill capacity, transport requirements and the energy remaining in that material made the choice of treatment infrastructure commercially and operationally important.
Acerra receives residual municipal waste after pretreatment in the region’s STIR facilities, where waste is mechanically processed and prepared for subsequent treatment. This places the plant within a wider waste-management network, with recycling and upstream preparation shaping the material delivered to the furnace.
The task was to connect that supply with sustained power generation while managing variable fuel characteristics, equipment availability, emissions and residues. At this scale, waste logistics, maintenance planning and grid delivery all influence the value of the asset.
The Solution
Integrate three treatment lines with a major power unit
Each line combines a moving-grate furnace, steam boiler and dedicated flue-gas treatment train. The published design basis is approximately 27.1 tonnes per hour per line, or around 650 tonnes per day. Together, the three lines represent approximately 1,950 tonnes per day of nominal treatment capacity at the stated fuel specification.
Waste is received, stored and mixed before controlled feeding to the furnaces. Combustion releases heat for steam production, while process controls regulate feeding, air supply and operating conditions. The arrangement connects a variable residual feedstock with a controlled energy-recovery process.
The boilers produce superheated steam at 500°C and 90 bar absolute. Steam from all three lines supplies one turbine-generator unit. These parameters make the power cycle a central part of the commercial design: recovering useful electricity is a core purpose of the plant.
The original throughput basis is tied to a waste lower heating value of approximately 15.1 MJ/kg. For another development, the incoming waste specification determines how much material the equipment can process and how much electricity it can generate. The feedstock survey and energy balance therefore belong at the start of project development.
Make emissions treatment part of the production system
Acerra’s environmental controls are integrated into each treatment line. The documented configuration uses lime-based acid-gas treatment, activated carbon, two stages of bag filtration and selective catalytic reduction for nitrogen oxides. Ash handling and wastewater treatment complete the supporting process infrastructure.
The technical reference records plant emission guarantees below the regulatory limits used for the original design. ARPAC documents continuous emissions monitoring with primary and backup systems, alongside its inspection and environmental-control activities. This combination of treatment equipment and operating evidence is central to maintaining an accountable industrial service.
For a project developer, these systems belong in the equipment configuration, operating budget and maintenance plan from the outset. Their integration supports the continuity and credibility on which long-term waste-treatment and energy arrangements depend.
Use operating data to protect asset performance
Klean’s project record describes telemetry, process-data analysis, alarm histories, equipment-performance reporting and redundant data backup. Together, these functions help operators understand production, diagnose faults and organize maintenance around actual plant behaviour.
Klean reports average annual availability of more than 90%. Sustaining that performance requires coordinated maintenance of the treatment lines, shared turbine and supporting systems.
The Outcome
A substantial operating record behind the engineering proposition
ARPAC’s published cumulative account records 11.2 million tonnes of waste treated and 10.6 TWh of electricity generated across its reported operating history. That is a significant body of operating evidence for a facility whose role is both regional waste treatment and electricity production.
| Reference measure | Published figure and basis |
|---|---|
| Original annual treatment design | Approximately 600,000 tonnes per year |
| Nominal daily treatment scale | Approximately 1,950 tonnes per day across three lines |
| Power-generation scale | More than 100 MW in the technical reference |
| Annual electricity reference | 600 GWh in Fisia Italimpianti’s plant account |
| Household electricity equivalent | Approximately 200,000 households in the same account |
| Availability | More than 90% average annual availability reported by Klean |
| Cumulative operating record | 11.2 million tonnes treated and 10.6 TWh generated in ARPAC’s published account |
Annual reference figures, nominal design values and cumulative operating results describe different aspects of the plant. Together, they show both its intended scale and the depth of its operating record.
The facility is owned by the Campania Region and operated by A2A Ambiente. Klean’s case describes an original project investment of €355 million and lists design and engineering, due diligence, consulting and component supply among its associated services.
The commercial lesson is to develop waste treatment and electricity production together. Waste-supply agreements establish the service requirement; the energy balance defines the saleable output; environmental systems and maintenance support continued delivery. Residues require their own recovery or disposal arrangements within that operating model.
For other regions with constrained disposal capacity and suitable residual waste, Acerra provides a substantial reference for evaluating energy recovery at regional scale. Plant selection should follow the available waste, its heating value, the grid opportunity and the capacity the local waste system actually needs.
1. The operating record gives the scale commercial meaning. ARPAC’s published totals exceed 11 million tonnes treated and 10 TWh generated, demonstrating the sustained role of the facility in regional waste and energy infrastructure.
2. The energy balance determines the value of the waste. Three lines, approximately 1,950 tonnes per day of nominal capacity and a power system above 100 MW connect residual waste with substantial electricity production. Feedstock quality is fundamental to that relationship.
3. Environmental control and availability support long-term delivery. Staged flue-gas treatment, backed-up monitoring and Klean’s reported availability above 90% show why the operating systems matter alongside the furnace and turbine.
These are selected achievements and lessons. Further technical and commercial insights are available through an engagement with Klean.
WHAT DO THESE LESSONS MEAN FOR YOUR PROJECT?
For a municipality, waste company or infrastructure investor, the starting point is a defined regional treatment need. Klean can assess the residual waste quantity and composition, available site, grid connection, treatment agreements and energy market to establish an appropriate technical and commercial basis.
New equipment developments follow Detailed Equipment Quotation (DEQ) → Detailed Feasibility Study (DFS) → Front-End Engineering and Design (FEED). The engagement package outlines the work; the paid DEQ proposal establishes the preliminary configuration and investment basis for the next stage. Existing-plant reviews, efficiency upgrades and advisory assignments are scoped to their specific objectives.
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ABOUT THE INFORMATION PRESENTED
This case study shares selected project information. Commercial agreements, process details and proprietary know-how remain subject to confidentiality and the permissions of the parties involved. Project-specific disclosures and access are addressed within an agreed engagement.
This case connects with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals through energy recovery (Goal 7), economic activity (Goal 8), industrial infrastructure (Goal 9), responsible resource management (Goal 12), climate-conscious waste planning (Goal 13) and reduced pressure on land resources (Goal 15).
