Thermal power plants must ensure 5% biomass co-firing, failing may attract penalty: Power Minister

Power Minister R.K. Singh with Power Secretary Alok Kumar (left).

Thermal power plants (TPPs) must ensure that orders for procurement and use of biomass pellets in TPPs are expedited and at least 5 percent biomass co-firing is followed, Union Power Minister R.K. Singh said on October 3. The ministry will put penal provisions on those TPPs that do not comply with the ministry's policy on biomass co-firing, he said while adding that the health and safety of the citizens was topmost priority.

Biomass co-firing in thermal power station helps to reduce coal used for power generation, resulting in corresponding savings in CO2 emissions. This would also reduce the sector’s dependence on coal and leads to reduction in air pollution due to reduction in stubble burning, among other benefits.

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"Power utilities should make all out efforts to complete the procurement process for existing tenders as soon as possible," Singh said in a government statement. He further underlined that till the time supply from the long term tenders is not started, power utilities should start procurement for the short term via alternate methods like commission agents as the harvesting season has already started.

Singh also stressed that measures should be taken for expeditious setting up of manufacturing facilities for torrification of biomass pellets in different locations to overcome the challenges of supply of biomass’s pellets.

Singh made the comments in a high level inter ministerial meeting held to review the progress of biomass co-firing in thermal power plants and stubble management in NCR and neighbouring states. The meeting was also attended by Bhupender Yadav, Union Minister of Environment, Forest & Climate Change, along with other ministry officials, officials from Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh state governments, the Chairman of the NCR Air Quality Commission and the heads of all power utilities in the region.

The meeting took place amid the onset of Kharif harvesting in the country.

According to the statement by power ministry, as of today, 83066 MT of biomass has been co-fired in 39 thermal power plants across the country totalling to a capacity of 55390 MW. In NCR region, the biomass co-fired is 22,696 MT out of which 95 percent has been done by NTPC.

Commission for Air Quality Management was also informed to start considering penal provisions on Thermal Power Plants which are not taking enough steps to curb emissions and not co-firing sufficient quantity of biomass. Additionally, the Central Pollution Control Board informed that financial incentives are going to be provided for setting up pellet manufacturing plants in the NCR region.