Biomass and bagasse-based power generation can yield as much as 19,500 mw of renewable energy in the country, according to official estimates.
To tap this source of energy, the ministry of non-conventional energy sources (MNES) has launched a plan of action to promote power generation from crop residues and other biomass products besides those available from cogeneration in sugar mills.
Under the programme, 28 biomass and bagasse based projects with an aggregate capacity of 141 mw have already been commissioned and another 27 with a total capacity of 1800 mw are under installation, officials said.
The programme acquires added significance as India recently entered into an accord with the US to earmark 10 per cent of its additional capacity to renewable sources of energy in its envisaged capacity addition plan for the 2000-2012 period.
It is estimated that India produces over 400 million tonnes of crop residues in addition to large quantities of bagasse coming from the sugar mills.
Exploitation of bio-mass for power generation is being given a high priority by the MNES which is implementing the programme in active collaboration of different non-government organisations such as the Tata Energy Research Institute (Teri).
Teri estimates that a typical one megawatt bio-mass based power unit running for 320 days a year needs about 11,000 tonnes of bio-mass.
Its studies in different Talukas of Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, West Bengal, Arunachal Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra reveal that a 8-12 mw power unit can be set up in each Taluka and this way at least 33,000 mw worth of additional power generating capacity can be built in the country by setting up on average a 5 mw plant in each Taluka of the country, Teri's study shows.
