Agro residue-based pellets tried at Dadri plant
India’s largest power producer NTPC Ltd has invited bids for the procurement of biomass pellets for its various thermal plants on the basis of Domestic Competitive Basis (DCB) as part of its endeavour to reduce the burning of crop residue on farmlands that cause air pollution.
The invitation for bids would be done through e-tendering at SRM Portal. The bidding process will be followed by the Single Stage, Two Envelope Bidding System.
The power producer has envisaged consumption of five million tonnes of pellets in the current year at its 17 its power plants including NTPC Korba (Chhattisgarh), NTPC Farakka (West Bengal), NTPC Dadri (Uttar Pradesh), NTPC Kudgi (Karnataka), NTPC Sipat (Chhattisgarh), and NTPC Rihand (Uttar Pradesh).
The bid call follows a 2017 first such call for biomass co-firing by replacing some of the coal with pellet based fuel at NTPC Dadri, Uttar Pradesh, said NTPC.
NTPC had fired 100 tonnes of Agro residue-based pellets at Dadri, Uttar Pradesh in 2017. The test-firing was carried out in four phases, with a gradual increase in the percentage of firing from 2.5% to 10% along with coal. To date, the company has fired more than 7,000 tonnes of agro residue pellets.
Post successful implementation, NTPC now plans to replicate the model in 17 of its state-of-the-art plants.
NTPC is confident that co-firing will help create large scale rural employment opportunities in processing as well as the supply chain for biomass.
The power producer will give preference to bids from suppliers from Punjab and Haryana.
The bidders need to notify NTPC about the relevant provisions of the bidding documents before submitting their bids.
An estimated 145 MMTPA of crop residue remains unutilized, mostly burnt open fields, creating severe air pollution that leads to health issues. Open burning of Agro residue is considered a major contributor to the surge in PM 2.5 in Northern India in the post-harvesting season.
With its gross calorific value comparable to the bituminous coal, the power generation potential of the entire 145 MMTPA biomass burnt through co-firing in coal-based power plants is equivalent to 28,000-30,000 MW of round the clock generation of renewable power which can produce the same amount of electrical energy as can be produced from the solar capacity of 125,000-150,000 MW.
With a total installed capacity of 62.9 GW, NTPC Group has 70 Power stations comprising of 24 Coal, 7 combined cycle Gas/Liquid Fuel, 1 Hydro, 13 Renewables along with 25 Subsidiary & JV Power Stations. The group has over 20 GW of capacity under construction, of which 5 GW comprises of renewable energy. #biofuel #bids #tenders #electricity #biomass #pellets #renewables /fiinews.com
