The Coir Board is planning to set up a coir pith based 10 MW power plant here on an estimated outlay of Rs 50-crore.
The first of its kind initiative in the country under the Coir Board is borne from the success of the Coir Board’s research and development wing.
“Talks are on with a Mumbai-based firm for setting up a 10-mw plant that would produce power using coir pith,” said G Balachandran, chairman of the Coir Board which functions under the Union Ministry of Small, Micro and Medium Enterprises.
Tests conducted by the government-allied body had proven that electricity could be generated from the spongy coir pith which is traditionally considered waste and used for nothing more than to fill low-lying lands. “The endless stacks of coir pith that litter the shores of peninsular India can be converted into a real energy resource,” Balachandran said.
“The proposed unit, with an estimated investment of Rs 50 crore, would come up in Thiruvananthapuram district,” he revealed.
Power will be generated after removing the moisture from the coir pith. “The Mumbai firm has got patent rights for the special drier,” said the chief of the Kochi-headquartered Coir Board.
The futuristic endeavour comes just days after the Coir Board entered into a pact with the Silk Board to develop a blended cloth using coir fibre with other natural fibres such as sisal, jute and raw silk. The fabric will be used mainly as curtain and other furnishing materials.
For continuous availability of raw material for the power unit, the Coir Board is launching a Kerala-level programme to guarantee scientific procurement of coconut husk. As the main raw material for coir, the coir factories churns out the pith from the husk.Currently, only 30 per cent of the husk is being converted into coir. “That is only half the potential. Tractors of the Coir Board will take rounds of houses and farms that grow coconut trees, and collect the husk,” Balachandran said.
“Such a streamlining will also give a fillip to the coir industry in the state,” he observed.
Of late, Kerala depends heavily on neighbouring Tamil Nadu for the supply of raw materials for the coir industry.
The new initiative of the Coir Board has come while celebrating its diamond jubilee year with a cross-country roadshow and a World Coir Fair in Delhi.