Energy crisis: SBP urged to finance rice husk power plants

SBP asked to coordinate with finance ministry for leasing facilities.

KARACHI:

The Union of Small and Medium Enterprises (Unisame) has urged the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to help rice millers and processors import biomass rice husk gasification power generation systems under the pay-as-you-earn scheme to overcome the energy crisis.

Unisame President Zulfikar Thaver said in a press release on Saturday that rice millers in China had installed rice husk gasification power plants. “There are a lot of rice mills in China that are using the gasification power generation system to generate electric power to meet their own electricity demand,” he said.

He said that Chinese rice millers did not buy diesel generators, as they did not purchase electricity from the national grid. “They just use their waste rice husk to get electric power.” he said.

He said that power consumption contributed significantly to rice mills’ annual production costs. He said that rice husk had no cost and by using it, rice mills could generate electricity at a reduced cost.

Thaver said that many Chinese firms offered rice husk gasification power generation systems along with power-plant design, installation, commissioning, training and maintenance services.

He urged SBP to coordinate with the Ministry of Finance and arrange for leasing facilities for rice millers to help them install power generation systems.

He also sought the help of SBP, saying that leasing companies were not in a position to lease plants and machinery due to financial constraints.



Published in The Express Tribune, September 4^th, 2011.