NTPC co-fires 77k tonne biomass at 14 thermal power plants: Official

State-owned power giant NTPC has co-fired 77,000 tonnes of biomass till date at 14 of its thermal power plants across the country, a company official said on Thursday.

Company's Director (Operations) Ramesh Babu made the remarks at a workshop organised in Chandigarh in association with SAMART (Sustainable Agrarian Mission on use of Agro Residue in Thermal Power Plants) on 'Ex-situ utilisation of agricultural residue for co-firing in thermal power plants', NTPC said in a statement.

The power ministry's policy on 'Biomass Utilization for Power Generation through Co-firing in Coal based Power Plants' issued in October 2021 mandates all thermal power plants in the country to use 5 to 10 per cent biomass along with coal for power production.

In his address "Ramesh Babu, Director(Operations), NTPC Ltd, highlighted the potential of biomass as untapped resource, additional source of income, high scale of demand and favourable government policies.

"He also informed about various initiatives taken by NTPC for biomass utilisation in TPPs (Thermal Power Plants) and mentioned that 14 NTPC plants have already started co-firing and approx. 77,000 tonne of biomass has been co-fired till date," the NTP statement said.

In order to reduce stubble burning and to reduce carbon footprint of TPPs while increasing the income of farmers, the government has taken various proactive steps with the establishment of the National Mission on Use of Biomass in Thermal Power Plants - SAMARTH, according to an official statement.

The agro-residue/biomass, earlier considered as a waste product, is used to produce zero-carbon electricity. In turn, farmers get additional income by selling the stubble/biomass for conversion into torrefied/non-torrefied biomass pellets, it said.