Biomass Co-firing in thermal power plants a step towards Greener future; deliberations at SAMARTH 3P conference

NEW DELHI- SAMARTH (National Mission on Use of Biomass in Thermal Power Plants) and NPTI jointly organised the National Conference on Biomass, themed “3P - Pellet to Power to Prosperity” at New Delhi. Shri Krishan Pal Gurjar, Hon’ble Minister of State for Power & Heavy Industries inaugurated the Conference along with Shri Alok Kumar Secretary (Power), Dr. M.M. Kutty, Chairman CAQM, Shri. Ghanshyam Prasad Chairman CEA, Shri. Gurdeep Singh CMD NTPC, Shri Ramesh Babu V Director Operations, NTPC, Shri Ujjwal Kanti Bhattacharya, Director Projects NTPC, Shri Praveen Gupta, Member (Th.) CEA, Piyush Sigh, Joint Secretary, MoP, Dr. Tripta Thakur, DG-NPTI, Shri Sudip Nag-Mission Director SAMARTH & Executive Director Biomass NTPC in the presence of Senior Government officials.

Shri Krishan Pal Gurjar, Hon. MoS (Power), inaugurated SAMARTH Website and released Mission Biomass Co-firing Booklet in presence of Shri Alok Kumar, Secretary (MoP), and other dignitaries.

Addressing the stakeholders present at the occasion, Shri Krishan Pal Gurjar, Hon’ble Minister of State for Power & Heavy Industries, commented, “By mandating the use of agro residue pellets in thermal power plants, the MoP has come up with a way to limit air pollution and assist farmers in clearing the land for the sowing of new crops.”

“The Biomass Co-firing Policy is a critical step towards meeting India's renewable energy targets and lowering greenhouse gas emissions from the power sector. Taking into consideration the benefits of biomass co-firing, the government is putting in concerted efforts to boost the biomass pellet-manufacturing sector. He appreciated the efforts of SAMARTH mission in the direction of enabling biomass co-firing across India. So far, around 1 lakh MT of biomass has been co-fired in more than 42 Thermal Power Stations, and this volume is expected to increase further in the coming months. I urge all stakeholders to attend this important conference and make the most out of it.”, he further added.

Shri. Alok Kumar, Secretary Power, congratulated NTPC for its commitment to work towards the National Biomass mission. He also said Power Ministry is soon looking to mandate use of Biomass under the Electricity Act 2012.

He commented, “The power sector lies at the heart of India’s Energy Transition. The sector has a pivotal role to play in India becoming a Net Zero economy by 2070, and to achieve the objective of reducing carbon emissions to 45% by 2030. We need active participation from the States in order to take the objectives of the National Mission forward. We hope that the Mission’s continued efforts shall bring about a paradigm shift in thermal energy generation, which is necessary for sustainable green energy availability. We need to collectively promote the initiative and disseminate SAMARTH’s objectives to all sections of the society”.

Dr. MM Kutty Chairman, CAQM, highlighted the efforts of CAQM which has been established with an aim to combat air pollution in Delhi NCR. He added that even with sufficient availability of raw biomass in the NCR adjoining states, utilization of biomass is yet to reach the desired level of co-firing. This is majorly due to volatile raw biomass pricing and very low availability of Biomass pellets.  State governments must pool in their resources to support this sector.

Shri. Ghanshyam Prasad Chairman, CEA, stated, “While India shifts to cleaner and renewable energy, the role of thermal power in this transition has never been more important. Use of biomass in Thermal Power plants is one such transformational measure that has the potential to change the way we look at the traditional coal-fired power plants”.

Shri. Gurdeep Singh, CMD NTPC, speaking on the occasion, commented, “NTPC Dadri was identified as a pilot project for the implementation of co-firing of pellets with coal.  NTPC Dadri was the first thermal power plant in India which made a commendable achievement of 5 to 10% biomass co-firing.

He highlighted that NTPC has simplified its tendering and participation process for Biomass suppliers. He also applauded the Ministry of Power for forming the National Mission on use of Biomass in Thermal power plants. He further praised the efforts put in by the Mission, in terms of promoting and encouraging co-firing in thermal power plants”.

Shri Sudip Nag, Mission Director SAMARTH & ED Biomass NTPC said, “Today’s conference will foster an enabling environment to boost co-firing of biomass pellets in Thermal Power Plants in India, as well as provide a common platform to all the stakeholders in the field to share their knowledge and experience”.The vote of thanks was delivered by Dr. Tripta Thakur, DG-NPTI.

The conference was attended by more than 300 participants. 12 Numbers of exhibition Stalls were set up by Pellet manufacturers, Entrepreneurs, OEMs, Mission SAMARTH and financial institutions.