12th Five Year Plan : India targets 1900 MW capacity addition from biomass

Ministry of New and Renewable Energy is promoting generation of power from biomass such as agricultural and agro-industrial residues and wastes. A target of 1900 MW power which includes 1400 MW from bagasse co-generation and 500 MW from other biomass has been fixed for the 12th Five Year Plan.

The cost of generation of energy depends on various factors such as price of coal and biomass, capacity of the plant and its plant load factor (PLF) etc. Generally, the cost of generation of energy varies from 4.00 to 5.00 per kilowatt hour from biomass and about 2.00 to 5.00 per kilowatt hour in case of coal.

Biomass power generation scene smoky in India

According to reports, for a country where almost 70% population is dependent on agriculture, it is safe to assume that biomass power generation should be promoted religiously by the policy makers. But, speakers at the ongoing two-day workshop on biomass power generation, here, on Wednesday struck a discordant note while talking about biomass promotion.

Experts and entrepreneurs at the workshop ‘to promote biomass power technologies and identification of pipeline projects’ organized by the Ministry of new and renewable energy (MNRE), UNDP and Global Environment Facility (GEF), cautioned that most of the 10 MW biomass power plants set up in the country in the past few years are on the verge of closing down due to unavailability of a steady supply of feed stock.

“The country produces an approximate of 150 million tonnes of biomass every year from which 16,000 MW of energy can be produced, besides the 5,000 MW energy can be generated through bagasse, (the residue of sugarcane after extraction of juice). So far, we have installed capacity of only 4300 MW, which means this sector has immense, untapped potential,” Jain revealed.