249 Waste-to-Energy plants set up in the country, informs Union Minister R.K Singh

Share

Tweet

Share

Share

Email

Comments

Union Minister for Power and New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), R.K Singh in a written reply to Rajya Sabha informed that a total of 249 Waste-to-Energy plants, 819 Biomass Power plants, and 50.8 lakhs small biogas plants have been set up in the country to generate power/ Biogas/ BioCNG.

Various ministries including the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy are taking several steps to achieve the green targets of the country. Using waste to generate energy, strenghthening the local manufacturers and more are among the various initiatives taken by the Government.

Waste to Energy Plants
To use waste material to generate energy, the Waste to Energy plants use incineration for the recovery of energy from dry and combustible wastes such as municipal solid waste (MSW) having a calorific value of more than 1500kCal/kg. Further, through the use of pollution control devices, Flue Gas Treatment (FGT), and regulating temperature in a combustion chamber, the emission of pollutants arising from the incineration of MSW is also handled.

Further, Online Emission Monitoring Systems are also installed in the plant to monitor pollution. As of February 28, 2022, 11 plants with a total cumulative installed capacity of 132.1 MW for power generation from Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) have been set up in the country. These plants have a capacity of processing approximately 11,000 tons of MSW/day to generate electricity.

Green Energy Corridor
The Green Energy Corridor is a series of infrastructure projects aimed at synchronizing the power generated from renewable energy sources like wind, solar, hydro, etc. with the conventional national grid of India.

On January 6, 2022, the Government of India approved the Green Energy Corridor – Intrastate Transmission System Phase-II scheme. Under the scheme (costing Rs 3,970.34 crore), transmission infrastructure will be set up in seven states namely Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, and Uttar Pradesh.

Incentives for domestic manufacturing
The Government has taken several initiatives for incentivizing local development and manufacturing of renewable energy technologies, namely:

Modified Special Incentive Package Scheme (M-SIPS) Scheme of Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology: The scheme provides subsidy for capital expenditure – 20% for investments in Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and 25% in non-SEZs. It covers solar PV cells, solar PV modules, EVA, backsheet and solar glass.

Preference to ‘Make in India’ in Public Procurement in Renewable Energy Sector: Through implementation of ‘Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India) Order’, procurement and use of domestically manufactured solar PV modules and domestically manufactured solar inverters has been mandated for Government and Government entities.

Domestic Content Requirement (DCR): Under the schemes of MNRE, namely CPSU Scheme Phase-II, PM-KUSUM and Grid-connected Rooftop Solar Programme Phase-II, the Government has mandated to source solar PV cells and modules from domestic sources.

Imposition of Basic Customs Duty on import of solar PV cells & modules: Further, the Government has announced imposition of Basic Customs Duty (BCD) on import of solar PV cells and modules with effect from April 1,2022.

Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme for High Efficiency Solar PV Modules: The MNRE has issued the Scheme Guidelines for PLI Scheme ‘National Programme on High Efficiency Solar PV Modules’, with an outlay of Rs. 4,500 crores for supporting manufacturing of high efficiency solar PV modules by providing PLI on sales of such solar PV modules.

Incentives to domestic manufacturing in Wind sector: To tap the wind sector, the Government has put in place a system of revised list of Models and Manufacturers, and only equipment manufactured by manufacturers in the list is allowed to be used for Wind Energy Projects. It also mandates that Hub and Nacelle assembly / manufacturing facility shall be in India. More than 70 percent of the equipment is manufactured in India.