Bathinda: The Punjab State PowerCorporation Limited (PSPCL) is going to set up a 60-65 MW paddy straw-based power plant at the cost of Rs 150 crore. PSPCL’s board of directors (BoD) in a meeting on Wednesday cleared the proposal for the project at the Guru Nanak Dev Thermal Power (GNDTP) plant in Bathinda.
It will be one of the largest straw-based plants and around 4 lakh tonne paddy straw would be used annually to generate electricity here. So far, straw-based power plants of up to 45 MW capacity are operational.
In addition, the BoD also cleared another proposal to set up 100 MW solar power plant was also cleared. The proposals have been sent to the state government for final approval.
Both the projects have been cleared coinciding with the celebrations of the 550th birth anniversary of Sikhism founder Guru Nanak Dev in whose name the thermal power plant was set up in 1974. Foundation stone of the thermal power plant was laid in 1969, coinciding with 500th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak.
The plant was shut down on December 31, 2017. After nearly 11 months, the PSPCL has decided to set up the straw-based and solar power plants in the complex.
Punjab is grappling with the problem of managing paddy straw and most of the farmers burn stubble in their fields leading to severe air pollution causing health problems, besides loss of vital nutrients in the soil.
Sources said the proposal for straw-based power plant had been cleared after the feasibility study by Denmark-based biomass company Babcock and Wilcox (B&W) Volund in the recent past. Similarly, nearly a dozen solar power producing companies, including Adani and Tata group, had in the past visited the plant site and showed interest in setting up the 100 MW plant.
When contacted, PSPCL chairman-cum-managing director (CMD) Baldev Singh Sran confirmed that the wholetime directors had already approved the proposal and sent it to the state government.
GNDTP general manager Kuldeep Kumar Garg told TOI that Danish firm B&W Volund had supported PSPCL in some studies to know feasibility of setting up one of world’ largest straw-based power plant and many other solar power producing companies had evinced interest in setting up the solar plant in Bathinda