Thursday, December 8 2005 11:00 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Lucknow: With a view to checking growing pollution level in the city of Taj that could have harmful effect on the pristine beauty of the marble of love, Uttar Pradesh Government has embarked upon an ambitious plan of providing Agra with pollution-free green power.

The plan envisaged by the Non-conventional Energy Development Authority (NEDA) is based on generating power through bio-mass for the historic city.

As the Supreme Court has already banned the use of diesel and kerosene run generators in order to keep the pollution level under check, alternative sources of power have become imperative with the grim power scenario making it impossible to supply of 200 MW uninterrupted power to Agra.

The city has been declared as a no power cut zone but due to the shortfall of electricity it has become most difficult to provide uninterrupted and quality power to the city and only green power could be the most viable alternative under such circumstances, Director of NEDA Sanjay Bhoosreddy said.

In the first phase, green power could be used for meeting the shortfall in power supply and later to contribute in the grid to ensure pollution free power for Agra, he said.

According to estimates, with 110 sugar mills in the state, it has the potential of generating as such as 1000MW electricity. But primarily due to lack of awareness and paper industry providing a lucrative market for sugarcane waste, only 150MW power is being generated, Bhoosreddy said.

"NEDA is encouraging sugar and rice mills in a big way to set up power generating units using their waste material in the form of rice husk and cane waste for which subsidy is also being provided on the purchase of gassifyiers, "Bhoosreddy said.

The pilot project of green power was being successfully run by 13 sugar mills, which, besides disposing off its wastes is also using the cheap power generated in-house, he said.

These sugar mills have been asked to contribute their surplus power to the power grid, Bhoosreddy said.

Bio-mass which costs around rupee one a kilogram is burnt at a low intensity and pressure and the gas derived through it is mixed with diesel in the ratio of 70:30 to generate power which is both pollution free and cheap.

For imparting the know-how of power generation through this process, NEDA has also been holding workshops and seminars.

State's Chief Secretary R Ramji also held a meeting recently to review the progress in this regard and stressed on the need for exploiting the method for ensuring quality power to the city of Taj.

Bhoosreddy expressed confidence that when fully operational, the project, for which a year's time has been set, would end the power woes of Agra and its surrounding areas forming the Taj trapezium zone.