CHANDIGARH, June 23: The Haryana government has received 18 proposals, involving an investment of Rs 200 crore, for setting up projects to generate power from non-conventional sources of energy like biomass cogeneration, micro hydel and municipal solid waste, according to the Haryana Minister of State for Non-conventional Energy Resources Attar Singh Saini.Presiding over a meeting of senior officers engaged in the implementation of various schemes of non-conventional sources of energy here today, the Minister said that while eight proposals had been received to generate power from municipal solid waste, seven were for micro hydel projects and three for biomass cogeneration. These proposals would be approved after their thorough examination. The scheme was being implemented by Haryana State Energy Development Agency (HAREDA), he added.The Minister said that the state government had recently announced a new power policy to give impetus to the non-conventional sources of energy by providing lucrative power purchase rate, banking and wheeling facilities besides giving exemption from electricity duty.The Haryana State Electricity Board (HSEB) would purchase electricity offered by the power producer at the rate of Rs 2.25 per unit for the base year 1994-95 with an annual escalation rate of five per cent on purchase rate of previous year.Saini said that five night-soil biogas plants each of 35 cubic meter capacity would be set up at those places in the state where the department of local bodies was implementing a scheme to provide community toilers at the cost of Rs 82 lakh. These sites would be at Khatikan Mohalla in Jind, Mandi Saiwan in Hansi, Bhim Nagar at Gurgaon, Gaukaran Park at Rohtak and Palwal.Union Ministry of Non-conventional Energy Resources had already released about Rs 14 lakh whereas the state government had provided Rs 7.31 lakh to HAREDA for implementation of this scheme. The minister also reviewed the working of the department and said that a sum of Rs 3.31 crore would be spent for the implementation of various schemes of non-conventional energy sources during the current financial year as against Rs 52 lakh spent during the last financial year.
