<p>An entrepreneur from Haryana has turned farm stubble, blamed for air pollution in the national capital region, into a business opportunity by collecting agro-waste from farmers and selling it to fire captive power plants.</p>.<div><div dir="ltr"><p>Hundreds of farmers in and around Punjab and Haryana have been working with Suvrat Khanna, co-founder and CEO of Verve Renewables, by selling him paddy straw from their farms and earning some money from it.</p><p>The two-year-old venture collects bales of paddy straw from over 50,000 acres of land, stock it at depots and supply it to captive the power plant at Naraingarh Sugar Mills to fire their boilers between April and December. </p><p>“The captive power plant at Naraingarh operates on bagasse (dry sugarcane residue) between December and April during the cane crushing season. The power plant can also operate during the non-season period using paddy straw,” Khanna told DH.</p><p>In 2019-20, the company collected 75,000 tonnes of paddy straw and aims to double its collection this year. The company pays farmers Rs 2,000 per tonne of paddy straw.</p><p>The company provides boiler ready biomass resources that could be used for generation of power by captive power plants attached to sugar mills and other large industries without making any changes to the technology.</p><p>“The captive power plants attached to sugar mills lie idle during the non-crushing season. With supplies of paddy straw and other agro waste, these power plants can run all year round,” Khanna said.</p><p>According to estimates, Punjab and Haryana alone generate 30 million tonnes of paddy straw every year, of which only a small fraction is used for power generation purposes at present.</p><p>Every winter, the national capital region is gripped by acute air pollution, a major contribution being the smoke and soot coming from the fields of Punjab and Haryana where farmers burn paddy stubble as they prepare the farm for the rabi crop.</p></div></div>
<p>An entrepreneur from Haryana has turned farm stubble, blamed for air pollution in the national capital region, into a business opportunity by collecting agro-waste from farmers and selling it to fire captive power plants.</p>.<div><div dir="ltr"><p>Hundreds of farmers in and around Punjab and Haryana have been working with Suvrat Khanna, co-founder and CEO of Verve Renewables, by selling him paddy straw from their farms and earning some money from it.</p><p>The two-year-old venture collects bales of paddy straw from over 50,000 acres of land, stock it at depots and supply it to captive the power plant at Naraingarh Sugar Mills to fire their boilers between April and December. </p><p>“The captive power plant at Naraingarh operates on bagasse (dry sugarcane residue) between December and April during the cane crushing season. The power plant can also operate during the non-season period using paddy straw,” Khanna told DH.</p><p>In 2019-20, the company collected 75,000 tonnes of paddy straw and aims to double its collection this year. The company pays farmers Rs 2,000 per tonne of paddy straw.</p><p>The company provides boiler ready biomass resources that could be used for generation of power by captive power plants attached to sugar mills and other large industries without making any changes to the technology.</p><p>“The captive power plants attached to sugar mills lie idle during the non-crushing season. With supplies of paddy straw and other agro waste, these power plants can run all year round,” Khanna said.</p><p>According to estimates, Punjab and Haryana alone generate 30 million tonnes of paddy straw every year, of which only a small fraction is used for power generation purposes at present.</p><p>Every winter, the national capital region is gripped by acute air pollution, a major contribution being the smoke and soot coming from the fields of Punjab and Haryana where farmers burn paddy stubble as they prepare the farm for the rabi crop.</p></div></div>
