Biomass Burning

Bhartiya Janta Party MP from Delhi Parvesh Verma slammed Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for saying that biomass burning by security guards and drivers is one of the sources of pollution

Ministry of Power has asked states to formulate time-bound plans to ensure the utilisation of biomass for co-firing in thermal power plants ahead of the Kharif harvest season

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

State-run power giant NTPC has emerged as the top biomass user, having co-fired about 58,000 MT of biomass, while tendering a total of 10.7 MMT over short-term and long-term basis, the power ministry said on Wednesday. As on date, approximately 59,000 metric tonnes (MT) of biomass has been co-fired in thermal power plants in the country, while tenders for 12 million metric tonnes (MMT) are at different stages of process for short-term & long-term duration, the ministry said in a statement. "The biomass co-fired in the NCR (national capital) region stands at 21,000 MT and tenders floated in the region are about 5.50 MMT. Contracts have already been awarded for more than 11 lakh MT of biomass pellets," it added. Elaborating the progress of national biomass mission, SAMARTH (Sustainable Agrarian Mission on use of Agro Residue in Thermal Power Plants), the ministry said, among the state governments, Haryana State Genco has been able to co-fire around 550 MT of biomass in two of its ...

It also asked the governments of Punjab and Haryana to take immediate stringent actions

A company official had informed that a tonne of pellets costs around Rs 7,000

Blaming farmers will not solve the problem. Stopping free power for irrigation and the transfer of the same subsidy to farmers in other forms alone will make a significant difference

The EPCA asked implementing agencies to take immediate stringent action to stop stubble-burning in the neighbouring states of Punjab and Haryana

The study said 488 metric tonnes of the total crop residue was generated in India in 2017 and about 24 per cent of it was burnt in agricultural fields, mainly in Punjab and Haryana