National Mission on use of Biomass in Coal-based Thermal Power Plants

National Mission on use of biomass in coal-based thermal power plants is a proposed mission of the Union Ministry of Power, Government of India. The aim of the mission is to mitigate air pollution caused by stubble burning and to reduce carbon footprint in generation of power from thermal power plants.

Duration

The proposed mission shall be of minimum five years duration.

Modus Operandi

The Modus Operandi to achieve the objectives of the National Mission are:

• Increasing the level of co-firing from present 5% to higher levels to have a larger share of carbon neutral power generation.
• R&D activity in boiler design to handle the higher amount of silica, alkalis in the biomass pellets.
• Facilitate supply chain of biomass pellets and agro- residue and its transport upto to the power plants
• NTPC will play a larger role in providing logistic and infrastructure support in the proposed National Mission.

Structure

The mission comprises a Steering Committee, an Executive Committee, Full Time Members and also five subgroups.

Steering Committee is headed by Secretary (Power) comprising of all stakeholders including representatives from Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas (MoPNG), Ministry of New & Renewable Energy (MNRE) etc. The Executive Committee would be headed by Member (Thermal), CEA.

The Mission would have full time officers from CEA, NTPC, DVC and NLC or other participating organizations.

The mission has five sub-groups to do different tasks as follows:

1. Sub-Group-I: It will carry out the research on properties/ characteristics of biomass
2. Sub-Group-II: It will carry out technical specification and safety aspects including research in boiler design.
3. Sub-Group-III: It will be responsible for resolving issues related to supply chain during the mission period.
4. Sub-Group-IV: It will select designated labs and certification bodies for testing of agro-based biomass pellets and Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) pellets.
5. Sub-Group-V: It will be formed on regulatory framework and economics of biomass co-firing in coal based Thermal power plants.

Proposed Benefits

Use of Biomass along with traditional fuel in thermal plants will help achieve India’s goal towards a greener and more sustainable energy transition. The mission will also contribute to the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP).