Raipur's clean power plants using coal on the sly

On October 15, 2010, the regional officer of Chhattisgarh Environment Conservation Board (CECB), R K Sharma, visited Tilda industrial area in Raipur unannounced. He noticed thick smoke rising from the premises of a renewable energy project. On paper the 8.5 MW power plant, Agrawal Renewable Energy Project, uses rice husk, a cleaner alternative to coal, to produce electricity. The electrostatic precipitator (ESP), an emission control device, installed in the plant was tripping frequently. On probing further, Sharma discovered that the plant was using coal as fuel.

Raipur has at least 10 biomass-based power plants where organic matter is used as fuel. Three reasons dictated the use of biomass in this place. One, a Chhattisgarh state government order of 2007, which prohibited commissioning or expansion of coal-based thermal power plants in critically polluted Borjhara, Urla and Siltara tehsils of the district. Two, the state provides financial benefits like accelerated depreciation, concessional import duty, excise duty and tax holidays to promote biomass-powered plants and buys energy from these plants at preferential tariffs.