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					</table>The <a href="https://powermin.gov.in/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ministry of Power</a> has revised the Biomass Co-Firing Policy to benchmark the prices for biomass pellets utilized in co-firing at thermal power plants. The decision was prompted by the changing market conditions for biomass pellets and numerous requests from stakeholders such as thermal power plants, pellet manufacturers, farmers, bankers, and others.
The benchmark price will consider factors like economic viability, impact on electricity rates, and the efficient procurement of pellets by power utilities.
By implementing a benchmark price for pellets, the Ministry expects the thermal power plants and pellet vendors to help establish a sustainable supply mechanism for co-firing.
The final benchmark price, determined by the committee under the Central Electricity Authority (CEA), will come into effect from January 1, 2024.
Until the committee&#8217;s recommendations are implemented, power utilities can opt for short-term tenders to fulfill the immediate demand for biomass pellets in their thermal power plants.
According to the Union Power Minister, R.K. Singh, the government considers the co-firing of biomass in coal-based power plants as a crucial policy for enhancing energy security, reducing reliance on fossil fuels, and simultaneously increasing farmers&#8217; income.
The revised policy is expected to accelerate the achievement of these objectives.
Due to the limited availability of torrefied biomass pellets in the country, the revised policy mandates power utilities to procure torrefied pellets only in exceptional scenarios and when it is technically unavoidable. Utilities that can use non-torrefied pellets should exclusively utilize them.
Torrefied pellets, also called black pellets, are a densified biofuel made from thermally treated solid biomass, with or without additives.
Under the biomass policy, which requires the co-firing of biomass with coal in thermal power plants, approximately 180,000 MT of biomass fuel has been co-fired in 47 thermal power plants across the country, with a combined capacity of 64,350 MW.
During the first two months of FY24, more than 50,000 MT has been co-fired, surpassing the previous record for annual quantity.
Furthermore, around 114 million MT of biomass pellets are currently at various stages of the tendering process, and thermal power plants have already placed purchase orders for approximately 6.9 million MT of biomass pellets.
With supportive policies in place and the Ministry of Power&#8217;s emphasis on the Sustainable Agrarian Mission on the use of Agro-residue in Thermal Power Plants (SAMARTH) mission, significant growth in biomass co-firing in thermal power plants throughout the country is anticipated.
The SAMARTH program helps tackle the challenges of stubble burning on Indian farms and the heavy carbon emissions in coal-fired power plants by biomass co-firing.
Last November, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy <a href="https://www.mercomindia.com/mnre-approves-%e2%82%b98-5-billion-national-bioenergy-program" target="_blank" rel="noopener">notified</a> the National Bioenergy Program, valid from FY 2021-22 to FY 2025-26. The program has been recommended for implementation in two phases. A budget outlay of ₹8.58 billion (~$104.66 million) has been approved for Phase-I.
In July last year, the Ministry noted that biomass co-firing in 35 thermal power plants across India had <a href="https://www.mercomindia.com/co-firing-biomass-35-thermal-power-plants" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reduced</a> CO2 emissions by 100,000 tons. About 80,525 tons of biomass had been co-fired in 35 thermal power plants with a cumulative capacity of 55,335 MW until July 24, 2022.
Subscribe to Mercom&#8217;s real-time <a href="https://mercomindia.com/product/mercoms-renewable-energy-regulatory-updates/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Regulatory Updates</a> to ensure you don&#8217;t miss any critical updates from the renewable industry.

Ministry to Set Benchmark Price for Biomass Pellets Used in Thermal Power Plants

<a href="https://www.ntpc.co.in/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">NTPC Limited</a> has invited bids for biomass pellets to use as fuel alongside coal at its thermal power stations. This would help mitigate the air pollution caused by farmers burning crop residue in the open.
Interested bidders are expected to specify the number of projects they plan to undertake and to submit a bid security amount of ₹100,000 (~$1,359) for each. The deadline for the submission of bids is October 19, 2020.
The scope of work includes supplying, loading, transporting, and delivering the agro residue-based biomass pellets at the specified sites. NTPC said it plans to fund this project through domestic funds.
According to the tender documents issued by the NTPC, bidders must be at least 21 years of age of Indian nationality or a corporate entity with a registered office in India.
In a separate statement, the Ministry of Power said that NTPC plans to use five million tons of pellets in the current year at 17 of its power projects in the country, including ones in Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, and Karnataka. The ministry noted that suppliers from Punjab and Haryana would be given preference.
A co-firing project is one where a certain percentage of fuel in a thermal project is replaced with an alternative fuel. In this case, NTPC intends to substitute a percentage of coal with biomass pellets in its thermal projects.
The MoP said that NTPC had conducted a pilot program for this initiative in 2017 for biomass co-firing by replacing some of the coal with pellet-based fuel at its project in Dadri, Uttar Pradesh. The test-firing was carried out in four phases, with the percentage of pellets being gradually increased from 2.5% to 10%. NTPC has fired more than 7,000 tons of these agro residue-based pellets towards this initiative so far.
NTPC also believes that this move can help create large-scale rural employment opportunities in the processing and supply chains for biomass.
The practice of burning old rice crop stubble by farmers in the states of Haryana, Punjab, and Uttar Pradesh after harvesting season was banned late last year by the central government. The move came after the process contributed to a significant increase in air pollution and deterioration in air quality in New Delhi and its surrounding areas.
This new initiative could prove to be a good way for farmers to get rid of their agricultural waste while avoiding the adverse effects of crop burning.
In April, a recent study <a href="https://mercomindia.com/wood-burning-clean-source-energy/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">published</a> in Science Advances, a peer-reviewed multidisciplinary open-access scientific journal, concluded that the harmful effects of burning wood for energy on the climate could be mitigated with efficiently designed climate policy.
Previously, the Central Electricity Authority <a href="https://mercomindia.com/cea-biomass-pellets-power-generation-thermal-plants/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">wrote</a> to all states and union territories across the country and asked them to promote the use of biomass pellets at all of their thermal power plants, whether public or private.
More recently, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy <a href="https://mercomindia.com/mnre-biomass-program-extended/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">extended</a> the validity of its biomass-based cogeneration program. The program was extended until March 31, 2021, or until the recommendations of the 15th Finance Commission come into effect, whichever comes first. The program was set to end in March 2020.

NTPC Seeks Suppliers of Biomass Pellets for Co-Firing at its Thermal Power Stations

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