Sustainable surplus biomass for power generation in Rajgarh taluka of Nahan district, Himachal Pradesh, India

Abstract

The present article is based on a study conducted in Rajgarh taluka of Nahan District, Himachal Pradesh. Based on the field level primary and secondary surveys, it was assessed that forestry and agriculture sectors together generate about 91631 tons of biomass annually. Of the total generated biomass, about 72 % is contributed from forestry and other sectors, while rest is from the agriculture sector. In the agriculture sector, wheat and maize crop residues are major contributors with > 68 % contribution. On the other hand in the forestry sector, forestland generated the maximum biomass (51.60%). Of the total generated biomass, about 42.5 % was consumed in the study taluka, while the rest remains as surplus, which can generate about 3 MW of electricity annually. The implications of such findings from the power generation point of view for the entire study taluka have also been discussed in the present article.