Rice processors in Haryana run captive power plants

Rice processors in Haryana are all set to have hassle-free operations from this year as many of the units have commissioned their own captive power plants run on biomass.

According to the information obtained from Haryana Renewable Energy Development Agency (Hareda) five new projects of 11 Mw capacity have been commissioned last month.

Two captive power units of 5 Mw based on rice husk were commissioned earlier in the state. The new projects commissioned are largely concentrated in the rice producing belt of Haryana — Karnal, Kaithal, Kuruksthetra and Panipat.

The state now has 16 Mw captive power plants consuming rice husk and new projects of 9.5 Mw are under installation.

The promoters get a subsidy of Rs 20 lakh per megawatt or a maximum of Rs 5 crore from the Centre for such projects.

The production manager of Shri Vishnu Overseas Private Limited, Kaithal told that they draw power at 4.40 paise per unit from the grid and spend about Rs 10 per unit on power generated in-house from generator sets. The cost of power from biomass is about Rs 2.40 per unit, he added.

He said that they process about 4 lakh tonnes of paddy every month, so plenty of rice husk is available. Hence they plan to add another 2 Mw to the existing 1.6 Mw capacity.

Amit Jain of Best Food International, Karnal who recently commissioned a 4 Mw plant told that they were already burning husk to get steam for paddy processing so only a turbine had to be added for power generation.

Jain had an annual turnover of Rs 108 crore last year and expects an increase of over 10 per cent in the business. He said that such ventures of green energy ensure quality power at affordable rates and qualify them for carbon credits too.

The players expect to reach the break even point in one and a half year.