NTPC TO BUY CROP STUBBLE
NEWDELHI: The government on Thursday asked its largest utility NTPC Ltd to blend crop residue with coal at its power plants, a move that should help reduce pollution in Delhi as well as supplement farm incomes.
Under the plan to fight farm fires, the thermal power corporation will buy waste from farmers and use it to make biomass pellets, and fuel at its power plants will be 10% biomass and 90% coal.
NEWDELHI:Union power minister RK Singh said on Thursday that state-run NTPC will float a tender to buy farm stubble at ₹5,500 per tonne for power plants, a move that will check farmers from burning it, a key source of pollution in the national capital region (NCR).
He said this move will help farmers earn around ₹11,000 per acre from the sale of stubble/ straw pellets.
A large number of farmers, particularly in Punjab and Haryana, are burning the farm stubble/straw, which causes air pollution, in the absence of viable alternatives.
“On an average, a farmers get around two tonnes of stubble or straw in an acre. NTPC will bring a tender to buy the pellets of this farm residue in next few days at a rate of ₹5,500 per tonne,” Singh said at a press conference.
Power secretary AK Bhalla however told reporters that the stubble pellets procured for power plants may not be used for this season, but the system will be in place.
On the likely bidders, Singh said a new market will be created under which service providers will bid after making arrangements with farmers. He assured that the use of farm residue pellets will not result in tariff escalation for the power generator.
Singh said that mixing of pellets up to 10% of the total fuel in a power plant is possible without affecting its efficiency in terms of gross calorific value.
The minister launched the Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana (Saubhagya) web portal which will help monitor household electrification progress.
It will disseminate information on household electrification status (state, district, village-wise), household progress on live basis, state-wise target vs achievement, monthly electrification progress.