After witnessing severe levels of air pollution in the national capital region (NCR) due to stubble burning last year, Haryana Government has proposed to set up six paddy straw based power projects in the state.
The illegal practice of burning crop residue had continued unabated in parts of Punjab and Haryana despite a government ban on it, further aggravating the problem of air pollution in last November.
According to the Haryana Pollution Control Board, state’s 13 districts in the national capital region were worst affected due to the high pollution levels at that time.
To tackle the issue of burning of paddy straw or wheat stubble in fields this year, Haryana Government has decided to encourage setting up of paddy straw based power projects in the state.
Initially, six projects of 6-12 MW capacity each are proposed to be set up in districts namely Ambala, Karnal, Kurukshetra, Jind, Kaithal and Fatehabad on pilot basis with total aggregate capacity of about 50 MW.
As per a 2010 study conducted by HAREDA (Haryana Renewable Energy Development Agency), the six districts has estimated paddy straw production of 3482 tonnes and estimated power generation of 408 MW.
“HAREDA has planned to utilize the available paddy straw / stubble of the state to promote the usage of these agri-residues for power generation and for mitigation of environmental concerns. Pollution due to stubble burning is a serious problem and had affected Delhi, Punjab, Haryana and other parts of northern country last year,” said a senior official of the State Government.
He said that the State Government has invited proposals from biomass project developers for setting up paddy straw based power projects in the rice belt of the state.
So far, 66 renewable energy projects of 254.89 MW have been set up in Haryana and 36 projects of 239.95 MW are under execution which are mostly from Biomass/baggasse cogeneration, Biomass IPP projects, small hydro and solar power projects.