NTPC seeks 5MT farm stubble to help NCR breathe easy

NEW DELHI: NTPC will harvest five million tonne of biomass pellets made from farm stubble for fuelling its power stations, giving farmers the option to make extra money by selling crop residue instead of burning them and choking the NCR as well as parts of four other states every winter.
The state-run generation utility has sought expression of interest for procuring the pellets just when reports of sporadic crop burning has started coming in from parts of Punjab, which has been identified along with Haryana and western UP, as major contributors to the winter smog in the NCR.
Company sources said ash generated from burning of agro residue-based fuel in power plants get absorbed in electrostatic precipitators and does not cause air pollution. Also, the equivalent amount of CO2 emitted from their combustion is absorbed in the next crop cycle by photosynthesis, which does not increase the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.