Biomass plant at Channu will feed 100 million units of electricity

March 11, 2010 7:10 am

As these projects are largely set up in the rural areas, they could also help the stabilization of electricity grid in such areas.
 
Union Minister for New & Renewable Energy, Dr. Farooq Abdullah recently laid the foundation stone for two power projects based on biomass in Punjab. These are namely, 10 MW biomass power plant at village Binjon in Hoshiarpur district and 14.5 MW plant at village Channu in Muktsar district.
 
The Minister said that apart from providing a much needed relief from power shortages, power projects based on biomass would generate employment in rural areas. The two plants are expected to generate about 1200 employment opportunities. Dr. Abdullah observed that as these projects are largely set up in the rural areas, they could also help the stabilization of electricity grid in such areas. The potential estimated for in the state of Punjab is about 1000 MW. Congratulating the State Government and Punjab Energy Development Agency for their lead role in planning and execution of such Green Energy Plants all over the State, Dr. Abdullah said that the location of such plants in villages will ensure improvement in socio-economic conditions of rural India.
 
The plant being set up by M/s Green Planet Energy Pvt. Ltd. at Binjon is going to be an excellent example of two different technologies, i.e. 6 MW biomass power from steam turbine route and 4 MW power from biogas generation and engine route. It will utilize agricultural residues such as cotton stalks, mustard stalks, paddy straw and wood chips besides cattle dung. The 4 MW biomethanation/ power generation project is a new initiative for power generation through urban wastes and agricultural residues. This project is also of unique nature as it is conceived by like-minded stakeholders. The project will provide direct and indirect employment to about 500 people mainly from local areas and would lead to abatement of approximately 60,000 tons of carbon dioxide annually.
 
This biomass power plant at village Channu is being set up by M/s Universal Biomass Energy Pvt. Ltd. It will feed about 100 million units of electricity to the grid annually besides providing direct and indirect employment to about 700 people mainly from local areas and has scope for abetment of 90,000 tons of carbon dioxide annually.
 
More than 114 biomass power projects of an aggregated capacity of 830 MW have been commissioned and another 55 biomass power projects of about 500 MW capacity are under implementation. The States of Punjab, Haryana, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu have taken lead role in this sector. Three biomass power projects of 28 MW capacities have been completed in Punjab and about 36 projects of aggregate 275 MW capacities are in pipeline.
 
Under the rural energy programmes, 98,000 biogas plants have already been installed. In the area of solar energy, about 30,000 solar lighting systems and lanterns, and about 25,000 solar cookers, are already in use mainly in the rural areas. The Ministry has also supported Small Hydro Power Projects with installations of about 127 MW.