The Power of Waste

Besides a very real need to tap non-conventional energy sources — such is the desperation, the cash-strapped state is looking at borrowing power from Orissa and the northeastern states — energy gurus in the state are only too aware that dependence on fossil fuel and fuel wood expedite environmental degradation and accentuate inequities within and between rural and urban India. Renewable energy is the recommended way out.

There’s also the money factor. An August 2002 white paper on the state’s power sector estimated the state’s energy requirement to grow from 59,295 MU in 2001-02 to 87,262 MU in 2011-12 and peak demand from 9,893 MW in 2001-02 to 14104 MW in 2011-12. In terms of investments, this translates into an additional Rs 11,905 crore in the generation sector alone over the next decade. Modernised and expanded transmission and distribution systems and technological upkeep would call for a further Rs 18,570 crores in that period.

‘‘Going by Coal Mining Planning and Design Institute expectations, India has extricable coal to last till 2040. Coal import bills are also expected to double in another decade-and-a-half. So we have to rethink viability of our coal-dependence,’’ says MEDA director-general G M Pillai. After tapping wind energy in the state, the focus is now firmly on biomass, which has the potential to generate 780 MW for the state. ‘‘The idea is to start in the backyards of developed Maharashtra. Hence the experiment begins at Gondia,’’ explains Pillai. In 34 talukas of Marathwada and Vidarbha, the MEDA has carried out biomass assessment studies to gauge if surplus rice husk, bajra straw, cotton stalks — all of which would go waste otherwise — can be used for power generation.

Pillai has a lot of hopes pinned on the biomass projects. ‘‘Some 15 of them could add 150 MW to the state’s grid over the next two years. They can run on 80-85 per cent PLF (plant load factor), which is comparable with any properly running thermal plant,’’ says the MEDA chief. The agency plans to involve the private sector in ready projects, which require around Rs 3.5 crore in investment per MW, with a gestation period of about 18 months.

According to Pillai, MEDA’s priority would be the industrially backward rural areas, where biomass energy projects can generate employment opportunities and boost rural electrification. The Andhra and Karnataka experiments show that one biomass plant provides direct employment to about 70 people and indirectly supports many more.