NTPC to partially use crop residue to fire power plants

In order to keep tabs on its carbon footprint as well as help reduce burning of crop residue by farmers on their fields, power producer NTPC Limited has decided to use biomass pellets for co-firing its various thermal plants.

Co-firing is a process where coal and biomass pellets – made up of crop residue – are co-combusted in boilers to produce power. NTPC has envisaged consumption of five million tonnes of biomass pellets in the current year at its 17 power plants across the country, including the one at Dadri. Besides helping reduce carbon emissions, co-firing also aims to help create large scale rural employment opportunities, through processing and supply chain, for the biomass, an NTPC spokesperson said.

For this, the power producer has issued a tender to hire an agency to supply biomass pellets after collecting crop residue from farmers in different states.