UPSC Articles
SAMARTH (Sustainable Agrarian Mission on use of Agro Residue in Thermal Power Plants)
Part of: Prelims and GS-III Agriculture
Context: Recently, the Union Power Secretary chaired the second meeting of Steering Committee for SAMARTH i.e. Sustainable Agrarian Mission on Use of Biomass in coal-based thermal Power Plants.
About SAMARTH
- It was created to address the issue of air pollution from stubble burning in farms and reduce the carbon footprint generated by thermal power plants which work on coal.
- It is a government initiative to use agro-residue, which was earlier regarded as waste.
- It is also regarded as National Mission on Use of Biomass in Thermal Power Plants
- Its objectives are:
- To increase the levels of co-firing (combustion of two different types of materials at the same time).
- To have a larger share of “carbon neutral power generation from the thermal power plants.
- Take up research and development work in designing boilers to handle a greater amount of silica and alkalis in biomass pellets.
- Work towards improving constraints in supply of such pellets and agro-residue to power plants.
- Considering regulatory issues in biomass co-firing.
News Source: BS
