Use of biomass pellets to generate power picks up in NCR

The use of biomass pellets along with coal to generate electricity has picked up pace around the national capital region (NCR), where 50% of thermal power plants have already launched the co-firing process, power ministry data showed. But nationally, only about 40 out of over 180 coal-fired plants of 25 megawatt (MW) and above have started using biomass pellets for power generation.

This comes after the power ministry on October 8 last year notified a policy mandating all coal-fired power plants to use biomass pellets as at least 5% of fuel mix (with coal) to generate electricity. The policy was first notified in November 2017, but in October last year, the “revised policy for biomass utilisation for power generation through co-firing in coal-based power plants” was issued, making it mandatory for all coal-fired plants to use such pellets and increase the percentage of biomass to 7% from November this year.