Kolluru Krishan | |
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Occupation | Engineer, entrepreneur |
Known for | Renewable energy projects |
Kolluru Krishan is an Indian engineer and businessman. His companies MPPL Renewable Energy and its sister company Grameena Abhivrudhi Mandali have provided rural India with power generated from biogas.
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Krishan is the current founder-chairman of MPPL Renewable Energy Pvt. Ltd., chairman of FEZ Projects Pvt. Ltd., chairman of EnviTec Biogas (India) Pvt. Ltd., and the director of Green Planet Energy Pvt. Ltd., all of whom focus on renewable energy development. He also consults on energy policy for a variety of public/private consortiums and to large entities such as the Indian government and the World Bank.[1]
Krishan graduated from Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur in 1972 with a degree in electrical engineering.[2]
In 2001, Krishan's company, MPPL Renewable Energy, built a 4.5 megawatt Rankine cycle power-generation plant in Karnataka, India. 100% of the plant's fuel comes from agricultural waste, typically cane trash, coconut fronds, and corn cobs/maize stalks.[3] This waste would otherwise decompose or be burned, releasing methane or carbon dioxide (both greenhouse gases) into the atmosphere.[4] The plant obtained the world's first Gold Standard Certified Emission Reductions (CERs) under UN's Clean Development Mechanism (CDM).[5] In addition to its generation of electricity, the plant provided 650 jobs to local residents, in keeping with GAM's mission of a 'sustainable biomass supply chain' which necessitates involvement of the local community.[6] The plant has drawn international accolades. In 2008, EnviTec Biogas India Pvt. Ltd., a joint venture between the German company EnviTec Biogas AG and Kolluru's Malavalli Power Plant Pvt. Ltd., received the Asian Power Award for the Best Decentralized Power Plant in Asia.[7][8]
In the future, MPPL will implement 14 more biomass-based power plants, totaling 146.5 megawatts, throughout the Indian state of Punjab.[9] Krishan is also sponsoring a number of thin-film solar manufacturing projects in India and Europe. [10]