Haryana To Generate Minimum 150 MW Biomass Based Power
Chandigarh (Jag Mohan
Thaken ),March 23, 2018 : Haryana Government has notified the Haryana
Bio-energy Policy 2018 and to promote generation of energy from the surplus
biomass in the State , a target has been
set to achieve minimum 150 MW biomass based power generation by 2022.
A spokesman of New and
Renewable Energy Department said that the State has surplus biomass
availability of 8416 thousand tonnes which has tremendous potential for
utilization of the crops residues to generate electricity, biogas, bio-CNG,
bio-manure and bio-fuels. Apart from this, the State has potential to generate
about 1000 MW of power or 11.5 lakh tonnes of bio-CNG, he added.
He said that the need to
promote these projects has been further necessitated due to the aggravated
environmental issues because of burning of crop residues in fields. Promoting
use of biomass for production of energy including cogeneration, bio-CNG,
bio-char and bio fuels and bio-ethanol would not only help reduce dependence on
conventional sources energy thereby reducing import bills but would also help
to improve environment and soil health and would also create alternate stream
of income to farmers and employment in rural areas.
The spokesman said that
the objective of formulating this Bio-energy Policy is to create conducive
environment to attract private investment in biomass projects, to harness
biomass based power, biogas, bio-CNG, bio-manure and bio-fuels as it has huge
potential of energy with sustainable environmental benefits through
techno-economically viable technologies. He said that the Policy would strive
to promote Biomass to bio energy projects based on the technologies approved by
Ministry of New and Renewable Energy and categorized as biomass based projects
for power generation using Rankine cycle, Bio-CNG and bio-gas cum organic
manure projects using advanced anaerobic digestion and bio-fuels, bio ethanol
and other innovative technologies.
The State Government
would provide incentives for such projects set up in the State to eligible
project developers. Apart from this, the agricultural land would also be
allowed to be used for setting up of bio mass based Projects in the State. The
state would facilitate the lease of Panchayat land at reasonable rates directly
through Panchayat as per prevailing Government Policy for setting up of biomass
projects for minimum period of 35 years.
The spokesman said that
Haryana Renewable Energy Development Agency (HAREDA) would be the Nodal Agency
to facilitate these projects and implement this Policy. HAREDA would act as the
single window to provide all clearances or arrange clearances for various
departments, wherever required. All biomass project developers in the state
would be required to submit their project proposals with HAREDA for approval
and validation for sale of power in or outside the state.
These projects would not
require any Change of Land Use (CLU) approval from Town and Country Planning
and Urban Local Bodies (ULB) Departments. The project would also be exempted
from External Development Charges (EDC), scrutiny fee and infrastructure
development charges but if special service is required for the biomass project
then EDC charges would be charged on pro-rata basis. However, after the expiry
of power purchase agreement period or when plant ceases to operate on the land,
land use would revert to the original master plan of the area, city or town.
The official source said that 100 per
cent exemption from payment of fee and stamp duty charges would be allowed for
registration of rent, lease or sale deed for the land required for setting up
of these projects in B, C and D category blocks as defined in the Haryana
Enterprise Promotion Policy 2015.
The spokesman said that
no fee would be charged by the Pollution Control Board for issuing Consent to
Establish (CTE) and Consent to Operate (CTO) for such project anywhere in the
State. However, these projects would be set up as per the prevalent pollution
control norms of the Government. Though, power projects with only air cooled
condensers would be allowed under this policy, the Irrigation Department or
Agriculture Department would allow canal or ground water usage for such
projects, except for condenser, at 50 per cent of the charges applicable to
industrial units in the State, on priority basis within one month from the date
of application by the project developer.
The spokesman added that the power producers would meet with all
the requirements, as per the State Grid Code for setting up their projects. For
connectivity with grid, the project developers would connect the Power Plant
with the nearest Sub-Station of Transmission or Distribution Licensee and
inject the electricity at appropriate voltage of the Sub-Station. For biomass
power projects installed for captive use or sale of power to power utilities or
third party sale through open access, all arrangements for power evacuation
that is voltage step up, synchronizing equipment, metering within the project
premises would be done by the Project Developer as per the technical
specifications, guidelines and regulation issued by Haryana Electricity
Regulatory Commission (HERC).
The biomass projects up
to 10 MW capacity set up under this policy would be treated as “Must Run” power
plants and would not be subjected to Merit Order Dispatch (MoD) principles and
would not be asked to back down as this would badly affect their viability and
planning for fuel linkage. In case of biomass power projects of 10 MW and above
generation capacity, scheduling and dispatch code would be as per the HERC
Regulations. Hundred per cent exemption from entry tax would be allowed in
respect of all supplies including capital goods, structure and raw materials
made for setting up and trial operations of the projects.
While referring to the
eligibility criteria and financial eligibility,
the spokesman said that there
would be no restriction on generation capacity or supply of electricity to the
grid up to Renewable Purchase Obligation (RPO) and tendered capacity. The
project developer may be individual, company, firm or group of companies or a
Joint venture or Consortium of maximum four partners having minimum 26 per cent
shareholding of leading partner. The capacity of the proposed projects would
not be more than 80 per cent of the potential available in the proposed
district as per biomass assessment report or biomass assessment report of
HAREDA after taking into account already set up biomass projects and should be
supported with a map showing catchment area for the project. Only projects with
new plant and machinery would be allowed under this policy .JMT.
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