KATHMANDU, Nov 17:
The Department of Electricity Development (DoED) has recently issued a survey license to a biomass plant developer in Pokhara for a feasibility study of the project with an installed capacity of 5.1 MW.
Gold Rush Company Limited, a power developer, wants to use solid waste of the lake city, which produces about 90 tons of garbage a day, to produce electricity.
Gokarna Raj Pantha, spokesperson of the DoED, said that the government has a policy of encouraging such environmentally important projects.
The government charges only Rs 15,000 per MW per year for such environment friendly projects while the fee is Rs 1 million for projects of 1 to 5 MW of hydropower projects and hydropower license fee increases in a ratio for plants with higher capacity.
Company´s Managing Director Puja Chanda Thakuri told Republica that they will employ pyrolysis gasification method, a technology that indirectly heats raw materials and break it down to highly flammable gas, which will be fed to the generators.
Its by-product, called bio-char, can be used to reduce the dependency on fertilizers. The plant will produce 750 tons of bio-char annually, according to Thakuri.
Likewise, the plant will also produce 200,000 liters of bio-diesel annually, which can be used in industries. Thakuri said that they want to make the tourist town clean and free of waste and also utilize the garbage thrown into the Seti River gorges.
It is believed that municipal authority will be much relieved by the project as there is only one landfill site in the city and the municipal authority is worried that they may not find a any space to dump the city´s garbage by the next 7 to 8 years.
The project cost is estimated at about Rs 2 billion and the electricity generation and the electricity generated from the plant is likely to cost about Rs 250 million per MW, excluding the value of by-products.
The average project cost of hydropower is Rs 200 million per MW. Thakuri said that though the project is little costlier than the hydropower project, it is important from the perspectives of environment.
“We have sent a proposal to the World Bank and Alternative Energy Promotion Center (AEPC) for financial assistance,” said Thakuri. She also said that they will approach foreign investors for the project, which will be completed within two years after they get the generation license.
Major portion of investment will be used for purchasing technology and equipment. This is the second proposed bio-mass project on the cards in the country.
Last year the DoED had issued a survey license a bio mass plant of 3.5MW to Balaji Biomass and Briquette Power Company for developing a plant at Teku, a garbage collection center in the capital city.
Source : Republica
