71 Thermal Power Plants Across India Have Adopted Biomass Co-Firing: CAQM
The Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM)’s biomass co-firing mandate for thermal power plants (TPPs), implemented in 2021, has demonstrated measurable success in reducing CO₂ emissions, specially in Delhi-NCR regions.
August 11, 2025. By Dineshwori
The Commission’s landmark biomass co-firing mandate, implemented in 2021, has been central to this progress. The initiative requires 11 thermal power plants (TPPs) in the National Capital Region (NCR) to co-fire 5–10 percent biomass with coal — a move that has since expanded nationwide.
As of mid-2025, 71 TPPs across India have adopted biomass co-firing, saving an estimated 34.77 lakh metric tonnes of CO₂ emissions, with NCR plants alone accounting for 25.79 lakh MT of the reduction.
The Commission highlighted that nearly 1,650 industrial units in Delhi have transitioned to cleaner fuels.
Air quality data confirms the results. Between January and September 2023, Delhi-NCR recorded an average AQI of 167 — the second-best in six years. July 2025 was the cleanest July in a decade with an AQI of 79. PM₁₀ levels have declined by 15 percent since 2017-18, and GRAP Stage III restrictions were revoked in early 2025 due to sustained improvement in ambient air quality.
Dr. Rajeev Sharma, environmentalist and former Vice Principal of DAV College, Hoshiarpur, said, “CAQM’s steps to boost biomass pellet manufacturing, including torrefied pellets, through technology access, training, and subsidies have doubled co-firing in TPPs from 11.7 lakh MT in FY24 to 21.49 lakh MT by mid-FY26.”
Thanks to CAQM’s aggressive interventions in stubble burning across Punjab, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh, fire counts in Punjab dropped from 71,304 to 10,909 and in Haryana from 6,829 to 1,315 between 2021 and 2024 — with Punjab achieving over 80 percent reduction.
Thermal power generators in Punjab have also partnered with farmers to repurpose paddy straw as biomass fuel for co-firing, cutting emissions while creating new income streams.
In June 2025, CAQM extended paddy straw-based biomass fuel use to brick kilns in non-NCR Punjab and Haryana, targeting at least 50 percent co-firing by November 2028.
Beyond thermal power, CAQM has tightened pollution control across sectors — from mandatory dust control SOPs at construction sites to AI-based vehicle counting, drone surveillance, and citizen-led campaigns like #VayuMitra.
The CAQM model is now being seen as a blueprint for replication in other high-pollution cities such as Bengaluru, linking environmental protection with economic growth through green jobs in biomass, clean fuels, and technology deployment.
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