Bathinda: Vedanta Power’s Talwandi Sabo Thermal Plant (TSPL) used 3.61 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) of agricultural residue for biomass co-firing in 2025-26, accounting for 5.21% of its total fuel consumption, the company said on Tuesday.The plant at Banawali village in Mansa uses baled paddy straw that is collected, transported and processed before being supplied as fuel. The initiative aims to create a market for crop residue and provide farmers an alternative to stubble burning by linking them with biomass aggregators, logistics operators and the power sector.In Mansa, stubble-burning incidents declined by around 87% during the 2025 harvest season compared with 2023, while more than 100 villages reported no farm fires, the company said.“Biomass co-firing demonstrates how industrial demand can help create a market for agricultural residue and build a more organised value chain around it,” said Vedanta Power CEO Rajinder Singh Ahuja.The Environment (Utilisation of Crop Residue by Thermal Power Plants) Rules, 2023 mandate coal-based thermal power plants to use biomass pellets or briquettes for co-firing, with a minimum 3% blend prescribed for 2024-25 to avoid environmental compensation.The Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) had imposed or proposed environmental compensation totalling Rs 61.85 crore on six thermal power plants in Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh for 2024-25. Of this, Rs 33.02 crore was proposed against TSPL and Rs 4.87 crore against Guru Hargobind Thermal Power Plant in Punjab.
