Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL), a Central government PSU, is setting up a 2G bio-ethanol plant based on paddy straw at Nasibpur village in Bathinda district of Punjab. The project is expected to be completed by March 2026 and will consume about 2 lakh tonnes of paddy straw annually at full capacity.
The information was shared by Smt. Neelima, Chief Executive Officer, Punjab Energy Development Agency (PEDA), in a PPAC (Petroleum Planning & Analysis Cell ) Journal, January 2026.
This plant will reduce the instances of paddy straw burning in Punjab, especially in Bathinda District, significantly this year as well as in the years to come.
The 2G bio-refinery is designed for utilization of paddy straw for production of ethanol for blending with petrol under the Ethanol Blending Program of Central Government.
The designed production capacity of this 2G ethanol plant is 100 Kilo Litre (KL) Ethanol/ day and for this purpose 570 MT of paddy straw would be utilized per day (2,00,000 MT annually), when the plant operates at its full capacity. Approximately 1 Lakh MT biomass will be procured in this season for use as feedstock for the upcoming 2G ethanol plant which is expected to be commissioned by March 2026.
The progress of setting up the plant is also being monitored by the Commission for Air Quality Management in NCR and Adjoining Areas (CAQM)
PEDA is State Nodal Agency for the implementation of the New and Renewable Sources of Energy (NRSE) Policy on behalf of the GOVT. of Punjab. It is responsible for laying down the procedure for inviting of proposals from NRSE project developers i.e preparing bid documents, managing the bid process, evaluation of project proposals and its award to successful bidder, project approvals and scrutiny of DPR, project implementation and monitoring.
