Novel idea to tackle power crisis in TN

ERODE: A State Planning Commission member has come up with a novel idea to tackle power crisis in the State. Dr G Kumaravel, also a retired forest official, told Express that by using Melia azedarach, known as ‘malai vembu’ in Tamil, as firewood in mini power plants, power crisis can be tackled in the long run.He said that on an acre, about 1,200 malaivembu saplings, costing Rs5 each, can be planted and with inclusion of cost of some inputs for their growth, the total cost of cultivation would be some where around Rs36,000 in the first year. After a year and a half, the timber can be harvested and by this way, harvest can be made up to 15 years. On an acre, nearly 20- 40 tonnes of timber can be harvested.The timber can be used in sugar-mills, where bagasse or coal is used to produce power, during lean seasons, to produce power. It can be used in mini power plants to produce up to 30 mw of power. The investment to produce 1 mw through solar energy is Rs11 crore and it is more in nuclear plants. But, in plants using biomass, the cost is Rs2.50 per unit. Such plants can be established under public-private partnership, said Kumaravel, who has also submitted a proposal to government. Agriculture Minister Sengottayan has said that the government will study the plan.