NTPC Ltd will issue bulk tender by mid-November, for procuring up to 18,600 tonne per day of crop residue and use it for generating power.

An NTPC official said this is being done to lower stubble burning and subsequent air pollution.

“NTPC plans to start biomass co-firing across all NTPC coal-fired thermal power stations (except those units having ball and tube mills). The tender will be for procuring approximately 5,600 tonne per day of normal pellets and 13,000 tonne per day of torrefied pellets/briquettes,” the official told BusinessLine .

“Till now the billets procured were used in the NTPC Dadri project and now the company plans to extend it to all its eligible projects,” the official added.

In November last year, the Central Electricity Authority issued an advisory stating that all capable public, private power generating utilities should endeavour to use 5 per cent to 10 per cent biomass pellets primarily made of agro residue along with coal. This is called biomass co-firing.

This advisory came at a time when Delhi was subsumed by a thick layer of smog worsened by stubble burning and emissions. The CEA’s intention was to reduce air pollution due to burning of surplus agricultural residue (stubble) in fields. This was to be done by creating an alternative market for the large-scale utilisation of farm stubble in power plants and to reduce carbon emission from coal-fired power plants.

According to NTPC’s estimates, the surplus agro residue based pellets shall be required to be used in 3,00,000-MW coal based thermal power plants to produce 30,000 MW biomass power at 10 per cent co-firing ratio by weight. “With the coal based generation of 1,96,098 MW approximately 100 million tonne of agro residue can be absorbed in coal based power plants with 10 per cent co-firing with non-torrified pellets while reducing their carbon emission. However, if pellets of torrefied biomass are used, almost all the surplus biomass can be utilised with even less than 10 per cent co-firing,” the NTPC official said.

The company also expects that it will be able to pass through the additional costs incurred to consumers as per the policy announced by the Ministry of Power for the same.

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