SAEL Begins 20 Lac Ton Paddy Straw Procurement for WTE Plants

SAEL Industries Ltd. (SAEL), a vertically integrated renewable energy company, has begun procuring approximately 20 lakh tonnes of paddy straw in a phased manner with the onset of the harvesting season in North India.

According to a company press release, this annual fuel-feedstock procurement drive will support the operations of SAEL’s 11 Agri Waste-to-Energy (AgWTE) plants, with a combined capacity of 164.9 MW. Through this biomass collection initiative, the company aims to strengthen local rural supply chains and convert paddy straw (crop residue) into renewable energy, contributing to both the energy transition and pollution mitigation.

SAEL’s model seeks to address crop-residue management challenges by connecting farmers with local aggregators and collection teams responsible for gathering and transporting paddy straw to its energy facilities. This provides farmers with an alternative for managing crop residue after harvest, reducing the logistical burden of clearing fields within the limited available window while creating an additional income opportunity. The process also aims to support rural employment and extend the economic value of paddy straw to surrounding communities.

AgWTE Plants To Reduce Paddy-Stubble Burning

AgWTE plants offer a sustainable solution as India’s response to crop-residue burning shifts from monitoring incidents to developing viable alternatives. In 2026, the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) directed Punjab, Haryana and NCR districts of Uttar Pradesh to implement action plans targeting the complete elimination of paddy-stubble burning.

These plans combine field-level monitoring and access to residue-management machinery with a greater emphasis on ex-situ utilisation through biomass power generation, pellets, briquettes and other industrial applications.

Farm-Fire Incidents To Decline

Government of India data indicates that farm-fire incidents have started to decline. The next challenge is to sustain this progress across districts by ensuring that farmers have timely and practical alternatives for managing crop residue during the short interval before the next crop is sown.

However, sustaining this progress will require more than monitoring and reducing fire incidents. It will also depend on providing practical alternatives for farmers. A recent study by the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) found that around 90% of surveyed farmers personally disapproved of stubble burning. The persistence of the practice is therefore linked less to awareness and more to constraints involving machinery, labour, costs, information and timing.

With only a 15–18-day window between paddy harvesting and wheat sowing, dependable collection mechanisms and assured offtake become critical to making non-burning alternatives viable for farmers.

Leadership View

On the latest announcement, Laxit Awla, CEO and Executive Director, SAEL Industries Limited said, “India is beginning to move beyond a view of considering paddy straw and other crop residues as seasonal waste-management issue. We are committed to continuing to support the farmer communities to adopt better ways of stubble management and extract the real economic value from it. Our AgWTE plants across Punjab, Rajasthan and Haryana are contributing to develop an impact  on  the  economy,  generating  benefits  through  creating  revenue streams  from  waste,  reduction  of  fuel  costs.  Additionally,  these  projects  stimulate  local economic  growth by  creating  employment  opportunities  in  waste  collection,  processing,  and  plant  operation.