Power generation sans pine needles now

The sugarcane department has decided to revive its cogeneration project for its Kitcha and Baajpur sugar mills in Uttarakhand on public-private partnership (PPP) mode without the use of pine needles.

The forest department has raised objection over the sugarcane department’s move to utilise pine needles for the cogeneration saying it has also taken up a similar project to produce 10 Mw of clean energy by setting up a gasifier-based plant. “Due to this objection, we have decided not use pine needles for generating power through cogeneration in the sugar mills,” said a senior government official.

The issue regarding pine needles came up when Chief Secretary Subhash Kumar recently held a meeting on PPP projects and called for reviving the cogeneration project which failed to make any headway during the past few years, said the official.

According to the original plan, the government had explored various options under which the cogeneration process can produce power from natural waste and other sources throughout the year.

Under this plan, the cogeneration was from bagasse for only four months from December to March. But during the off-season, the fire material was different. In April-May, it was wheat-husk, June-July pine needles, August-September eucalyptus trees and in October-November, rice-husks. In this way, the government had tried to attract sugar mills participating in the bidding process to produce power throughout the year.

“We will not be using pine needles now, since the forest department had raised objections,” said the official. The forest department is of the view that this biomass waste could be utilised for multiple usages like gasifier-based energy, briquettes and other environment-friendly products leading to reduction in carbon emission.

The government had so far received nine bids from different sugar mills. “We will now be inviting financial bids from these companies in one month time in order to complete the bidding process,” said the official.