India – Crop Waste Power Plant
The Crop Waste Plant at Malavalli, India is the world's first 'Gold Standard' project to have its Certified Emissions Reductions (CERs) certificate issued. The plant supplies reliable electricity for 18 hours per day to around 10,000 people in 47 villages, previously electricity was available for about 3 hours a day. This reliable source of electricity now further stimulates local economic activity and directly contributes around US $1 million to the rural economy.
The plant generates clean, renewable electricity from crop waste such as coconut fronds and sugar cane trash instead of using polluting coal. This results in reduced C02 emissions by around 20,000 tonnes per year.
The plant has directly created at least 500 local jobs in the power plant and in the collection of the agricultural waste that the plant uses as a fuel. Local farmers are now getting paid for crop waste that was previously left to rot or burned. Waste from the power plant is recycled into an environmentally beneficial organic fertilizer.
