To minimise farm fires and improve air quality in the capital, a central government panel has directed 11 thermal power plants within a 300 km radius of Delhi to co-fire 5-10% biomass fuel of their total coal consumption.
In its latest direction on September 17, the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) asked them “to initiate immediate steps to co-fire biomass-based pellets, torrefied pellets/briquettes (with focus on paddy straw) with coal (up to 5-10%) in the power plants through a continuous and uninterrupted supply chain”. The panel also ordered them to implement the direction without “any delay”.
This comes after Environment Minister Bhupendra Yadav chaired a meeting with representatives of power plants in the Delhi-NCR region and laid stress on using crop residue as a fuel.
