Haryana building five waste-to-energy plants to tackle stubble trouble

KARNAL: Waste-to-energy plants being set up across Haryana may prove a game-changer to deal with the stubble burning menace by not only generating energy and employment but also providing additional income from the crop waste.

Haryana is the second biggest producer of paddy waste in the country after Punjab.

Setting up of these plants is near completion and the plants will purchase paddy straw from farmers from this Kharif season.

Haryana Renewable Energy Development Agency (HAREDA officials said four paddy strawbased biomass power projects are being set up in state one each in Kurukshetra (15MW), Kaithal (15MW), Jind (9.9MW) and Fatehabad (9.9MW). The fifth plant is being set up at the IOCL’S Panipat refinery and will generate ethanol from paddy waste.

As per the project details, work on these plants was to complete by August this year but was delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the lockdowns.

But officials working on the projects said all four biomass plants will be completed by end of the year and trials are likely in November, whereas IOCL’S 2G ethanol plant will be completed by March next year.

After being made operational, the biomass plants will generate a total of 49.8 MW electricity or 26 crore units by consuming 5.87 lakh MT of paddy waste generated from around 2.90 lakh acre.

Similarly, the ethanol plant will directly produce 100 kilo litre ethanol per day from 425.5 MT dried rice straw and provide relief from the emission by consuming the paddy waste of around 80,000 acre every year.

The expected cost of the project is around Rs 766 crore and the plant is spread in 34 acre on premises of the Panipat refinery.

Besides 150 technical experts, this plant will provide employment to about 1,200 persons.

Haryana new and renewable energy department additional chief secretary PK Das said, “These plants will prove to be game-changers by converting crop waste into energy and fuel.”

Private companies have made arrangements of land, employees, machines and paddy waste.

“In return, the government will purchase electricity from these companies as per government policy,” said Balwan Singh Golan, HAREDA project officer, Kurukshetra.

He said these private companies have been allowed to purchase crop waste directly from farmers and will pay between Rs 1,000 and Rs 1,500 per acre.

THE FOUR BIOMASS PLANTS WILL BE COMPLETED BY END OF THE YEAR; TRIALS ARE LIKELY IN NOVEMBER, SAY OFFICIALS