Apart from the gestation period, many problems, like coal link, pollution and requirement of vast chunk of land, are associated with such plants. Thus, a viable alternative to these are small biomass-based power plants, as Punjab has a large volume of biomass in the form of agricultural waste. The first such plant that came up at Gulabewala village in Mukatsar district about four years back is running successfully. This 7.5-MW power plant, installed by Malwa Power Private Ltd, generates 1.8 lakh units of electricity daily, which is purchased by the Punjab State Electricity Board under a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA) at a pre-agreed price of Rs 3.49 per unit.
The plant uses cotton sticks, paddy husk, crop residue, wild grass, cow dung cakes or any other combustible matter, which is chipped into small pieces through chipping machines and burnt to generate heat. Daily consumption is around 240 tons and it takes roughly 1.3 kg of biomass for producing one unit of electricity. The other input is water. Around 14 tons of water is consumed every day after completely de-mineralising it through the RO system installed on the premises. The water is heated to 460 degrees centigrade and the resultant super heated steam runs the turbine at 7500 RPMs. The speed is reduced to 1500 by adjoining gearbox to run the 7.5 MW gen set. The power so generated is carried to in-built grid, where it is metered and supplied to the State Electricity Board.
The technique of power generation in this plant is same as in case of thermal plants and nuclear plants except for the fuel, which is coal and nuclear fuel for such plants, respectively, and biomass for this one. Though arranging the fuel and disposing wastage of thermal and nuclear plants is a problem, biomass plants are eco-friendly as they have almost zero emissions and produce very little quantity of ash. Because of using non-polluting fuels, these are also entitled to carbon credits under the clean development mechanism. The plant earned 48,300 certified emission reductions (CERs) last year, which at the current market price of 13 Euros a CER are equivalent to over Rs 4 crore, which is an extra income for the company. The gestation period for installing a biomass-based plant is lesser as it takes less than a year to complete. Malwa Power completed its first plant in 18 months and the second one at Gaddadob village, near Abohar, was put to steam recently in six months only. The plant can be set up in 12 to 15 acres of land as compared to thousands of acres required for coal-based thermal plants. It is competitive cost-wise, too, as the total project cost of 7.5-MW plant at current prices is Rs 40 crore, that comes around Rs 5 crores per MW. On the other hand, thermal plants have benchmark installation cost of around 5 to 6 crore per MW with 5 to 6 years gestation period.
These plants generate good employment for semi and unskilled workers who make their living by selling biomass at a handsome price. This single plant currently employs 150 people directly and another 4,000 indirectly. The company purchases biomass worth Rs 16 to 18 crore a year, which directly adds to the purchasing power of rural masses.
To make these plants economically viable, the purchasing price of electricity needs to be raised. The Gulabewala plant at the moment is in trouble as the meagre price of Rs 3.49 a unit is making it uneconomical in the wake of rising biomass prices, which have shot up to Rs 1,700 a ton from around Rs 500 a ton few years ago. These units become unviable if the fuel costs surpass Rs 1,200 per ton lest the electricity purchase price is hiked. The playing field is also not levelled as some other players, like sugar mills, which have similar captive co-generation plants, are free to sell the power in open market under open access, where it fetches Rs 6 to 7 a unit. This makes the survival of these plants difficult as other players push up the biomass prices. So, there is no reason for debarring this plant from selling its power in the open market when the government itself purchases the power from open market between Rs 7 to 8 per unit.
Punjab being agriculture dominating state has a huge biomass production in the form of crop residues. The Punjab Energy Development Agency (PEDA), which looks after the non-conventional energy sources, estimates the total potential of 1000 MW in the biomass sector in the state and 29 projects of 300 MW are under construction in the private sector. Recognising the merits, installation of such plants should be encouraged in the state. Instead of going for high cost, polluting and land consuming thermal plants, it will be a viable and eco-friendly solution for the power-strapped Punjab.
Source: The Tribune, Chandigarh, India.
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