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| And now, power generation from poultry litter! |
| Komal Amit Gera / Barwala Jun 08, 2010, 00:56 IST |
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Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) engaged in poultry farming in Haryana will soon use poultry litter to generate power for the state power grid.
The initiative, by a cluster of over 150 poultry farms in Haryana’s Barwala belt, will convert poultry litter into power, thereby both checking environmental pollution and adding to the power availability in the region.
The project is being implemented by Green Industry Bio Energy Private Limited, a special purpose vehicle (SPV) formed by Emergent Ventures and US-based Indus Terra.
The power project, costing Rs 62 crore, will convert poultry manure into electricity and slurry into fertiliser by the process of anaerobic digestion at a high temperature through a process called thermophilic digestion.
The President of the Haryana Poultry Farmers’ Association, Pramod Singla, said poultry excreta had become a health hazard, apart from emitting a stench.
Members of the association conducted a study on how the litter could be utilised, and came up with the idea of a power plant.
The 5.6 Mw power project would be built in two phases. Phase one would have a capacity of 1.4 Mw and the second phase 4.2 Mw.
The Barwala cluster has over 80 lakh birds and generates 648 tonnes of bird litter everyday. The proposed project would utilise close to 500 tonnes of waste per day.
The SPV has applied to the Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission for a tariff of Rs 6.24 per unit. Sources in the Haryana Renewable Energy Development Agency (HREDA) said an 18 per cent return was imperative to make the project viable and it would have a six-year payback period.
Deepak Verma, the CEO of Green Indus Bio Energy Private Limited, said, “Barwala has the largest concentration of egg-laying poultry in India. It is easier to collect the residue in these poultry farms than in broiler poultry farms.”
He added, “It would be a classic case of renewable energy in India that would fetch us carbon credits as well.”
The project will have a debt-equity ratio of 70:30. The SPV is attempting to get debt from the India Renewable Energy Development Agency. The HREDA is a facilitator.
Poultry farmers will also make an extra buck by providing the bird manure at Rs 5.5 per sq ft to Green Industry Bio Energy Private Limited, with an increment of 5-10 per cent every year. Green Industry Bio Energy will pick the manure every third day at its own expense.
Verma said the technology partners based in the UK would provide the design and the machines would be assembled in India.He added if the tariff is approved, a power purchase agreement would be signed with the state utilities.
Construction is expected to start in October and the first phase is expected to be commissioned by June 2011.
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