Vedanta Power is scaling up biomass co-firing at its Talwandi Sabo Thermal Plant in Punjab, using agricultural waste as fuel, with the plant co-firing around 3.61 lakh metric tonnes (LT) of biomass in FY2025-26, equivalent to roughly 5.21% of its total fuel consumption, the company said.

By diverting paddy straw from open-field burning, the biomass co-firing initiative helps reduce pollution and harmful emissions associated with stubble burning, the company said in a statement.

The programme aims to create a productive use for paddy straw and build an organised supply chain for agricultural residue, offering farmers a way to derive value from crop residue previously treated largely as waste. It also provides an alternative to open-field burning during the harvest season.

The Talwandi Sabo plant, located in Mansa district, has been using biomass co-firing to convert paddy straw into energy. The process involves collection, baling, transportation and processing of agricultural residue before it is supplied to the power plant, linking farmers, biomass aggregators, logistics operators and the energy sector.

The move carries significance for Punjab, where seasonal management of paddy straw remains a key challenge. In Mansa district, reported stubble-burning incidents during the 2025 harvesting season fell by approximately 87% compared with 2023. More than 100 villages reported zero farm-fire incidents, while over 28,000 acres of farmland were protected from burning.

While the decline in farm fires reflects several factors, the availability of an organised biomass utilisation route offers farmers and other stakeholders an additional alternative to open-field disposal of crop residue.

“Biomass co-firing demonstrates how industrial demand can help create a market for agricultural residue and build a more organised value chain around it. By converting paddy straw into a productive source of energy, we are looking at the stubble challenge not only from an environmental perspective but also through the lens of economic value creation for rural communities,” said Rajinder Singh Ahuja, Chief Executive Officer, Vedanta Power.

The biomass programme has also spurred development of a rural supply chain around agricultural residue. Collection and aggregation create opportunities for local operators, while transportation and processing generate additional activity around the biomass ecosystem. For farmers, the initiative offers a potential avenue to derive value from paddy straw traditionally treated as waste.

“I am giving all my paddy straw to the biomass manufacturing plants so that this agricultural waste can be put to the best possible use. Instead of burning the straw in the fields, it is converted into environmentally friendly biomass pellets and used as fuel in thermal power plants. This helps prevent stubble burning, reduce air pollution, and improve the air quality of our region,” said Avtar Singh, a farmer from Raipur village in Mansa.

The model also supports the broader principle of a circular economy by recovering agricultural residue and converting it into useful fuel. For the power sector, biomass co-firing offers a way to integrate a renewable fuel source into existing thermal generation infrastructure while contributing to agricultural-residue management.

Vedanta Power is among the private power producers seeking to strengthen the role of alternative fuels and more efficient resource utilisation as India’s energy requirements continue to grow. The experience at Talwandi Sabo also underscores the potential for industry-led demand to complement government and community efforts to reduce crop-residue burning.

With greater participation from farmers, aggregators, local communities and other stakeholders, biomass-based utilisation of agricultural residue could emerge as a scalable model for regions facing similar stubble-management challenges.