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All KSRTC buses likely to be on bio fuel by 2010-11

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Source : The Business Line Date : 08.06.2009

All KSRTC buses likely to be on bio fuel by 2010-11

Our Bureau

Mangalore, June 7 All the buses of KSRTC (Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation) in Karnataka are likely to run on bio-fuel by the end of 2010-11. At present, around 2,000 buses in KSRTC are being run by fuel blended with ethanol.

In an informal chat with Business Line here on Saturday, Mr Y.B. Ramakrishna, Chairman of Taskforce on Bio-fuels, Government of Karnataka, said that KSRTC is operating around 2,000 buses with diesel blended with 7.7 per cent of ethanol.

This number will be increased to 5,500 by the end of the current financial year. The aim is to operate all the KSRTC buses on fuel blended with ethanol by the end of 2010-11, he said.

Karnataka has installed capacity to produce 136 million litres of ethanol every year.

Mr Ramakrishna was in Mangalore to deliver the keynote address at a workshop on ‘Renewable energy: Employment and entrepreneurial opportunities’. Speaking at the workshop, he said that solar photovoltaic is an effective answer for rural lighting.

On the possibilities of wind energy, he said Karnataka has 1,074 MW of wind energy installed. However, still there is a potential of additional 7,000 MW in wind energy.

Referring to cogeneration in sugar factories, he said 17 sugar factories in the State have 339 MW of installed capacity. He said that 35 more factories in the State can add a minimum of 700 MW of power.

Good scope

Mr N. Yogish Bhat, Mangalore MLA and Chairman of Karnataka State Industrial Investment and Development Corporation, said there is good scope for the production of bio fuel in the State.

Last Updated on Monday, 08 June 2009 04:16