Chhattisgarh State Power Generation Company ltd (CSPGCl) is among 19 power generation utilities in the country advised by Central Electricity Authority (CEA)  to get post harvest crop residue collected and use it as a 'bio-mass’ fuel to generate power instead of farmers burning them on the fields and causing pollution.

The CEA in its Advisory informed that NTPC has successfully demonstrated  Co-firing of 7 per cent biomass pellets with coal at its Dadri power plant. “This can be replicated in other coal fired power plants having bowl mills, vertical roller mills and beater mills,” it informed.

Notably, Chhattisgarh has two ‘waste-to-energy’ power plants proposed with a total installed capacity of 10 MW, officials informed.

Notably, five Municipal Solid Wastes (MSW) to energy plants with a cumulative installed capacity of 66.5 MW are currently operational/under trial run in the country.

The Chhattisgarh government has decided to set up a ‘Waste to Energy’ power generation plant in Durg district.

 The Government last year had intended to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Bhilai Steel Plant (BSP) administration for jointly taking up the project, officials informed.

 The project was proposed to be undertaken under ‘Swachch Bharat Abhiyan’ under the Government’s solid waste management project.

 The proposed ‘Waste to Energy’ plant was to utilise waste generated from municipal corporations of Bhilai, Durg, Bhilai-Charoda, two municipal councils mainly Jamul and Kumhari and three Nagar Panchayats mainly Utai, Patan and Gunderdehi.

 Notably, the state-owned Chhattisgarh State Power Distribution Company ltd (CSPDCl) in January this year had also announced that it will be purchasing 50 MW of electricity from bio-mass power producers in the State.

 The company would sign a 20-year agreement with the power producers, officials stated.

  Chhattisgarh had biomass projects generating a total of 249 MW of power as on March 31, 2015.

 The total power generation from biomass projects by 12 other states during the aforesaid period in Megawatts is as follows- Andhra Pradesh ( 288), Gujarat ( 30.50), Haryana ( 13.50), Karnataka ( 107.50), Madhya Pradesh (26), Maharshtra ( 198), Odisha ( 20), Punjab ( 68.50), Rajasthan ( 101), Tamil Nadu ( 211.70), Uttar Pradesh ( 54) and West Bengal ( 26). 

 The Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy provides Central Financial Assistance at the rate of Rs 25.00 lakh per  Mega Watt in special category States and Rs 20 lakh per Mega Watt for other States with a cap of Rs. 1.50 crore per project.

 Chhattisgarh produced 527.63 lakh cubic meters of bio-gas from family type bio-gas plants and large bio-gas plants  in the entire State during the 11th Five Year Plan period.

  The estimated State-wise production of bio-gas from family type bio-gas plants and large biogas plants installed in the country under different programmes of the Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) during the 11th Five Year Plan period is as follows (in lakh cubic metres)- Andhra Pradesh (9969.60), Assam(1616.33) Bihar (2325.94) Goa (71.83) Gujarat (8731.94) Haryana (1112.13) Himachal Pradesh (842.47) Jammu & Kashmir (47.44) Jharkhand (107.19) Karnataka (8213.62) Kerala (2399.30) Madhya Pradesh (5713.25) Maharashtra(15297.74) Manipur (38.80) Meghalaya (146.30) Mizoram (72.40) Nagaland (95.83) Odisha (4402.65) Punjab (2966.70) Rajasthan (1235.30) Sikkim (144.66) Tamil Nadu (5261.66) Tripura (53.25 )Uttar Pradesh(7765.80) Uttarakhand (531.37) West Bengal (6213.70).

  About 6.10 lakh family type bio-gas plants were installed during the 11th Five Year Plan against a target of 6.47 lakh plants under the National Biogas and Manure Management Programme.

 The data available with the Ministry pointed out that the  States which have taken  leadership position in implementation of bagasse co-generation projects are Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh.

 The Ministry has been implementing biomass power/co-generation programme since mid nineties.  A total of   288 biomass power and cogeneration projects aggregating to 2665 MW capacity have been installed in the country for feeding power to the grid consisting of 130 biomass power projects aggregating to 999.0 MW and 158 bagasse cogeneration projects in sugar mills with surplus capacity aggregating to 1666.0 MW.

In addition, around 30 biomass power projects aggregating to about 350 MW are under various stages of implementation.    Around 70 Cogeneration projects are under implementation with surplus capacity aggregating to 800 MW.

 Biomass power & Cogeneration programme is implemented with the main objective of promoting technologies for optimum use of country’s biomass resources for grid power generation.  Biomass materials  used for power generation include bagasse, rice husk, straw, cotton stalk, coconut shells, soya husk, de-oiled cakes, coffee waste, jute wastes, groundnut shells, saw dust etc.

Notably, SUDA in Chhattisgarh is in the process of preparing a Master Plan for implementation of Solid Waste Management Project in all the 168 Urban local Bodies (UlBs) of Chhattisgarh, officials informed.

It will also get a feasibility study and Detailed Project Report (DPR) prepared for all UlBs in the State .

Meanwhile , it may be recalled that top brains currently being nurtured in the country’s premier business and technology schools will soon get assignments to prepare urban development plans for civic bodies in Chhattisgarh.

 Notably the Raipur Municipal Corporation (RMC) would soon be setting up an Organic Waste Converter ( OWC ) for conversion of organic waste generated daily in the vegetable markets in the city.

 The waste collected would be converted into organic manure.  Notably, 100 per cent door-to-door collection and waste segregation would be taken up as per RMC’s ‘Smart City’ plans.