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Friday, February 19, 2010

250 MW power can be generated from rice husk in State

PNS | Bhubaneswar, 19/02/2010

Odisha is producing enough biomass, including rice husk in its rice mills, which can be used to generate up to 250 megawatt of power, but not much has been done to harness it.

Inviting rice mill owners at a seminar on Promotion of Biomass Gassifiers/Co-Generation Projects in Rice Mills here on Thursday to seize the opportunity organised by the Cogeneration Association of India (CAI) along with the All Odisha Rice Mills Association and the Industrial Promotion & Investment Corporation of Odisha Ltd (IPICOL), Secretary of the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy (MNRE) Deepak Gupta pointed out that the move would help save the environment, improve the standard of living in rural areas and bring in more profit to rice mills because investments are recovered within a year.

He cited the example of a couple of cases in Bihar to buttress his argument that the traditionally poverty-ridden areas of the country, which are also the paddy producing regions, can benefit from the projects in providing electricity to the rural areas.

The seminar was part of a nationwide promotional plan sponsored by the MNRE and implemented by CAI. Such seminars have already been organised in UP, Bihar, Karnataka and Maharashtra.

The Biomass Advisor to MNRE Dr DK Khare provided a lot of statistics to highlight the potential that Odsha has in this area and said adoption of the gassifier /cogeneration methods can save millions of litres of diesel in the State. He pointed out that the State Bank of India is so convinced about the scheme that it has made a precondition for installation of such systems, without which it is not willing to finance rice mills in Bihar.

State Director of Industries Hemant Sharma spoke about the steps taken by the State on the subject and mentioned the five paddy-producing clusters that have been identified in the State. He announced that the land for the project would be given free by the Government if a group of users approach with a joint project in a cluster. State Science and Technology Secretary Sudarshan Pal Thakur invited the prospective entrepreneurs to come forward with their projects and assured speedy approvals within a few days.

Secretary of the All Odisha Rice Mills Association Santosh Kumar Agarwal sought a model plant to be set up where potential entrepreneurs can gain confidence. He listed out some basic information required to arrive at a decision for investment. President of the Odisha State Cooperative Bank Jagneswar assured finance to all those who would approach the bank with a feasible proposal.

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