Karnal sugar mill generates 18 MW power, earns Rs 25 crore extra income

Parveen Arora

Karnal, January 9

The Karnal Cooperative Sugar Mill has expedited the production of green power from its newly launched 18 MW co-gen plant by using sugarcane byproducts such as bagasse, a fibrous residue left after the extraction of juice from cane.

The mill has sold 1,17,90,900 KWH units of electricity to the Haryana Power Purchase Centre (HPPC), earning an additional income of Rs 25 crore in this crushing season.

“We are producing 18 MW power from byproducts, which are being supplied to the HPPC after the in-house consumption ranging between 5 MW and 6 MW,” said Karnal Cooperative Sugar Mill Managing Director Hitender Kumar Sharma.

The mill, which was inaugurated by Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar in April 2021, has increased its crushing capacity from 2,200 tonnes of cane daily (TCD) to 3,500 TCD. Besides, it is producing sulphur-free refined sugar. The mill has crushed 17,68,200 quintals of sugarcane and produced 1,56,650 quintals of sugar with a recovery rate of 10.38 per cent, the MD said. It has been performing well across the state, he added.

He further said the farmers are being paid within five days of the sale of their produce. They have disbursed around Rs 52 crore to the farmers in the current crushing season.

“To expedite the crushing and saving farmers’ time, we have started an online token system through an application so that they can plan and bring their produce accordingly. It helps them to check the number of farmers in queues,” he added.

The MD also said they have introduced two helpline numbers for the farmers cannot arrange a token online. “Farmers can dial-in these numbers to get their tokens,” he said. “We have also started Atal Kisan canteen, which would provide farmers with food at a nominal rate of Rs 10 per plate,” he added.