The Hindu : New Delhi News : Power plant site given for jatropha plantation

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, May 27, 2006

New Delhi

New Delhi

Power plant site given for jatropha plantation

Staff Reporter

To develop alternative sources of energy

NEW DELHI: With the proposed 1,000 MW power plant at Bawana in North-West Delhi not taking off due to non-availability of adequate gas, 100 acres of the site has now been given by the Delhi Government to the Delhi College of Engineering for setting up a pilot project involving plantation of jatropha plants and production of bio-diesel from them.

Of this, 70 acres would be used for plantation of jatropha plants. The plantation would begin in summer and the project would run for six years during which a sum of Rs 4 crores would be spent. Power Department sources said the pilot project is aimed at exploring the uses of bio-diesel.Similar projects have been initiated by other departments and Ministries like Railways and even States such as Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Haryana.

Since the average yield of jatropha is around 3 tonnes per hectare it is expected that 70 acres or nearly 30 hectares of land in Delhi would result in production of around 100 tonnes of jatropha per annum. This would in turn mean production of about 30,000 kg of bio-diesel per annum.

While the quantity is not huge and would not make a sizeable difference in either the oil scenario or the power scene in the Capital, it would nevertheless make available oil which is low on sulphur and nitrogen oxide content and is less polluting. Jatropha nut kernels contain about 60 per cent oil which can be extracted and transformed into bio-diesel fuel.

The anticipated yield from the plant is between 2.5 and 3 mt per hectare.

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