Punjab’s biomass unit closure stirs stubble woes

THE closure of a biomass power plant in Punjab this week reportedly due to uneconomic power purchase rates and mounting operational losses is more than a business setback. It is a warning that India’s green transition cannot rest on policy rhetoric alone. At a time when the state is once again battling farm fires, this shutdown strikes at the heart of one of the few sustainable solutions to the annual stubble crisis. Biomass plants were meant to turn Punjab’s crop residue, that is generally burned in fields, into clean energy and income for farmers. Instead, what we are witnessing is a system in retreat. The economics have soured because power utilities are unwilling to buy electricity from these plants at rates that reflect true costs. Delayed payments, absence of assured supply chains, and lack of coordination between agriculture and power departments have only worsened the picture. If plants are shut down, farmers are left with no viable alternative to manage their straw. Enforcement alone cannot fill this vacuum.

The failure is not of technology, but of governance and economic design. For years, Punjab and the Centre have subsidised machines like Happy Seeders and balers, yet the ecosystem that would absorb or repurpose the collected residue has not matured. Without reliable markets for biomass, whether for power, bio-CNG or industrial use, farmers have little incentive to invest in costly residue management.

The situation calls for a course correction: rational tariffs, timely payments and state-supported logistics networks to ensure regular straw supply. Without these, each shutdown will bring Punjab and its neighbouring states closer to another smog-choked winter, where policy promises literally go up in smoke. Farm waste must be treated not as an environmental nuisance, but as a renewable asset that fuels a circular rural economy.