In an endeavour to make use of an estimated six lakh metric tonnes of available biomass of pine needles for producing electricity and create employment opportunities, the chief minister of Uttarakhand, Trivendra Singh Rawat handed over allotment letters to 21 entrepreneurs on Wednesday.
Speaking on the occasion, Rawat directed the departments concerned to provide all necessary support and facilities to these developers.
He said that loans to these entrepreneurs should be provided without any collateral from the banks. The CM also directed energy and forest department for inviting proposals for the second phase of the project.
The state government floated a Pirul policy last year to curb uncontrolled natural disaster-forest fires, unemployment in remote areas.
The state government has also made a proposal to include Self Help Groups and Mahila Mangal Dals located at the nearby project sites for the collection of the pine needles at the rate of Rs 1 per Kg.
These organisations would enter into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the developers and sell the pine needles on mutual agreed rates.
As part of the policy UREDA had invited proposal from the interested developers for setting up of the pine based power units. On the proposal 20 entrepreneurs expressed interest to set up power projects while one decided to set to briquette based project.
It is estimated that about 2.25 MT of pine needles will be required annually for operation of a 25 KW pine needles based power project. The estimated cost of a 25 KW project is about Rs 25 Lakh and is capable for generation of 1.4 lakh unit annually.
According to a rough estimate, Pine trees occupy a space of 4 lakh hectares of land in the state and cover 16.36 percent of total forest area of Uttarakhand. Experts opine that the state has a total power production potential of over 150 MW from available pine needles and other biomass. These 20 pine needles based power project of cumulative capacity 675 shall requires around 6075 MT of pine needles annually and the generated energy shall be injected into the grid.
The chief secretary of Uttarakhand Utpal Kumar Singh, Additional Chief Secretary Radha Raturi, Principal Secretary, Manisha Panwar, Energy secretary Radhika Jha, Finance Secretary Amit Negi, revenue secretary Sushil Kumar, Forest secretary Arvinda Singh Hayanki and others were present on the occasion.
