Producing energy from waste rice husks in India

The agricultural sector is particularly important in India, with well over half of the population generating an income from agriculture. The country is the world’s second largest producer of rice, accounting for 22.5% of overall world rice production, and this means rice production is a particularly important source of income for rural populations.

At the same time, India’s energy needs are rising fast, with growth in electricity demand and other energy uses among the highest in the world. Currently rural India largely relies on coal power plants, which not only emit CO2 but also contaminate local water sources and cause long-term health issues for employees.

Biomass power is considered a ‘bridging solution’ – allowing waste products to be used to generate power as an alternative to high-emitting fossil fuels, whilst we scale up capacity for solar, wind and other types of renewables to accommodate our global energy needs. It is important to note that only biomass projects utilising waste products can be categorised as renewable energy projects. The EU recently made their position on this clear, stating that, “Apart from certain exemptions, woody biomass would no longer be considered as renewable energy and would therefore no longer be eligible for incentives meant to promote renewables.” Biomass grown specifically for the purpose of being burned to create energy is not a renewable energy solution, and certainly not something Ecologi would support, as it usually leads to monocultures being grown which are detrimental to biodiversity, and means investment is being diverted from truly renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar.

This small project involves the implementation of a 5MW cogeneration power project powered by waste rice husks. The project is designed to meet growing electricity demands as local manufacturing infrastructure develops, without producing increases in fossil fuel energy usage.

Rice husks are the hard protective covering of grains of rice that are discarded when rice is harvested. The rice husks are transported from the nearby rice mills in the region to the project site, and are combusted in a boiler. The combustion produces high-pressure steam which is used to turn a turbine, which drives a generator to produce electricity.

The electricity produced helps to meet energy demands, and replaces electricity that would otherwise come from the largely coal-powered NEWNE (India’s integrated Northern, Eastern, Western, North-Eastern) grid.

Whilst biomass power and waste-to-energy solutions are often considered ‘bridge’ solutions, small projects like this one help to provide funding for sustainable development – as well as producing emissions reductions like the projected 28,442 tCO2e annual reductions from this project.

This project is verified by the the Verified Carbon Standard. You can view it on the Verra Registry here.