FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
1. WHAT IS BIOMASS ?
Biomass is the organic matter produced by plants. It is available in the form of agricultural crop residues, agro industrial residue, forest residues. Agricultural crop residues include straw, leaves, stems, stalks etc. Agro-Industrial residues include husk, shells, pith etc. Forest residues may include fallen leaves, branches, tree trunks, etc.
2. WHAT IS THE QUANTITY OF BIOMASS REQUIRED PER MW OF POWER GENERATION?
The quantity of biomass required per MW of power generation depends on characteristics of the biomass under consideration and mainly depends on the calorific value of the biomass. For an average calorific value of 3000 kcal/kg, the biomass required per MW of power generation is approximately 1.2 Ton / Hr.
3. WHAT IS THE SUCCESSFUL TECHNOLOGICAL ROUTE OF BIOMASS BASED POWER PROJECT ?
For biomass based power plants above 1 MW capacity, the successful technological route which is being mostly implemented world over is the COMBUSTION OF BIOMASS FUEL. In this route the biomass is fired directly in the boiler to generate steam and the steam is passed to a Steam Turbine Generator set to generate electric power.
For biomass power plants below 1 MW capacity number of technologies like gasification etc. are available but the cost of power generation proves to be high.
4. WHAT ARE THE IMPORTANT FACTORS FOR SELECTING A LOCATION FOR A BIOMASS PROJECT ?
The most important factor is the availability of sufficient quantity of biomass at reasonable price. The other factors which influence the selection of plant location are sufficient quantity of Water and Grid Connectivity.
5. WHAT IS THE INVESTMENT REQUIRED PER MW ?
The investment also depends on the type of the biomass and other factors like water availability, grid connectivity etc. For a typical biomass based power plant where all the resources are available, the investment will be around Rs.40 Million or US$ 889,000 per MW.
6. WHAT IS KYOTO PROTOCOL ?
Realizing that climate change is a global problem requiring a global solution, majority of countries representing both developed and developing nations joined hands in Kyoto, Japan in 1997 to agree on reduction of emissions of greenhouse gases. Under the terms of Kyoto Protocol, developed countries agreed to cut back on greenhouse gas emissions by an average of 5.2% below 1990 level. The Kyoto Protocol follows the 1992 United Nations Convention for Climatic Change (UNFCCC), which established the objective of stabilizing the greenhouse gases at a level that would prevent dangerous interference with the climate system.
7. WHAT IS CLEAN DEVELOPMENT MECHANISM ?
Clean Development Mechanism ( CDM) is one of the mechanisms adopted at the Kyoto Protocol for limiting emissions of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
CDM has been created with the following objectives.
- To support sustainable development within developing countries.
- To reduce the over all costs of combating GHG emissions released to the atmosphere
- To support developed countries achieve compliance with their reduction commitment targets by the year 2012
