The power ministry revealed that the utilization of biomass resources could soon be increased for the generation of electricity.

According to ministry, in India, the electricity generated from renewable sources presently stands at about 13,200 MW out of the total electricity production of 147,400 MW.

Of this, the usage of biomass resources for generating electricity is just 650 MW as opposed to a potential of 16,000 MW.

AllGreen Energy, a Singapore-based renewable energy company, has decided to set up 10 biomass-based renewable energy projects in India by the next two to three years with a total investment of Rs 500 crore.

During the initial phase, the company plans to launch three plants in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh by March 2010. The investment for each project is Rs 50 crore.

Each plant is likely to produce 6.5 MW of power by March 2010 and will give a 24x7 continuous power. After completion of all the 10 plants, it would produce about 65 MW of power.

AllGreen is taking up the tested and patented Biomass Gasification technology from Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and will partner with GE Energy and ITC to identify potential biomass-rich locations.

Biomass will be procured from various sources such as biomass plantations, agricultural farms and post-harvest processing industries.

Mr. Kamlesh Tejwani, company’s chairman and CEO, stated, “We are mainly looking at rural areas, but cannot divulge exact locations right away. We will access the government's open access provision and supply to the grid through power brokers.”

The annual biomass requirement of the projects will be 50,000 tonnes.

Mr. Tejwani said that local employment generation opportunities are expected. Part of the electricity generated will be provided to the village where the plant is established.

Technical director T R Krishnaswamy told, “Biomass potential in rural India is almost unnoticed. We expect our strategy to bring down price of biomass energy.”