The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has issued a memorandum regarding continuation of issue of concessional custom duty certificate (CCDC) to set up projects for generation of power using non-conventional materials. Non-conventional materials include, agricultural, forestry, agro-industrial, industrial, municipal and urban waste, bio-waste and or poultry litter.

Per MNRE, the CCDC will be issued per the procedure stated in the memorandum.

• The developer must submit application with details of items certified by the project developer and chartered engineer.
• The application will be routed through concerned state department/nodal agency and will be submitted to the Director (Waste to Energy Division), MNRE.
• MNRE will issue certificate recommending the grant of CCDC.

When contacted, an MNRE official said, “Waste management is another huge problem that India is tackling. Today, most of the waste can be utilized to generate power in some way or the other. So, the continuation of CCDC issuance for non-conventional power projects that utilize waste is a win-win for the country. By utilizing CCDC the developers’ cost comes down.”

The continuation of issuance of CCDC order comes on the heels of approval of a program “Energy from Urban, Industrial and Agricultural Waste/Residue” with modified terms and conditions from 2017-18 to 2019-20, aimed at creating conducive conditions and environment with fiscal and financial regime to develop, demonstrate, and disseminate utilization of wastes and residues for recovery of energy.

This is another step towards attaining the goal of increasing farmers’ income, employment generation, waste-to-wealth creation. Recently, the central government’s cabinet, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved the National Policy on Biofuels – 2018.

A program to support promotion of biomass-based cogeneration in sugar mills and other industries was also announced in May 2018, by MNRE’s biomass power division.