Agricultural residue as an alternate energy source: A case study of Punjab province, Pakistan

Muhammad Uzair, Syed Sarosh Sohail, Nasir Uddin Shaikh and Ali Shan

Renewable Energy, 2020, vol. 162, issue C, 2066-2074

Abstract: Pakistan is facing severe electricity crisis due to lack of investment in power sector, depleting gas resources and dependency on imported oil. Utilization of indigenous and renewable energy resources is the best way to compensate energy need and reduce fossil consumption. Being an agrarian country, huge amount of agricultural residue is generated each year, which can be used as a cheap input to generate electricity. Aim of this research is to assess the total potential of electricity that can be generated from Agricultural Residue (AR) in Pakistan. The paper focuses on district-wise resource assessment for electricity generation in the province of Punjab. Estimated 60 Mega Tonne (Mt) of AR is generated in Punjab every year from 5 major crops (wheat, sugarcane, rice, maize, and cotton). AR is used for various purposes but still large amount of residue is left unused and burnt openly in the fields. As a methodology, certain factors are used to calculate the Net Available Residue (NAR). This research shows that a lot of potential is available in Pakistan to generate electricity form biomass, in total around 1700 MW electricity can be generated from agricultural residues of 4 main crops (Maize, Cotton, Wheat and Rice). It is also found that maize stalk producing districts of central Punjab are the best location for installing BPP and also it is cheapest to produce electricity from maize stalk with LCOE of 6.8 cents/kWh.

Keywords: Biomass; Crop residue; Power generation potential; Resource assessment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:renene:v:162:y:2020:i:c:p:2066-2074

DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2020.10.041

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