Ganjam rice mills run on grid power: which records cut cost and carbon?
Grid electricity is the only energy a Ganjam mill uses, so its power bill is its whole footprint. BEE's study of about 250 mills found 11 to 20 kWh per tonne milled. Logging kWh and tonnes each month shows which machine to fix first: shared shaft drives, separators or paddy cleaners.
The cluster
- About 250 mills: 108 below 10 t a day, 142 above.
- Raw rice for local dealers and the FCI levy; no boilers and no fuel.
- Energy is only 1 to 1.5% of paddy cost, and 221 mills pay Rs 1 to 5 lakh a year for power.
- All together, about 14.5 million kWh a year.
Records that find the waste
- Each month's kWh and kVAh from the bill, and the power factor printed on it.
- Tonnes of paddy milled in the same month.
- Hours each line ran.
- Which machines share one motor and shaft, and which have their own.
What BEE found worth fixing
- Shared drives: 125 mills run every machine off one shaft and 87 more run some that way. Separate motors cut drive power by about 30%, payback about 2 years.
- Locally made separators and paddy cleaners: well built replacements use about half the power, payback 18 to 26 months per unit.
- Steel elevator buckets: plastic ones cut elevator power by about 10%.
Paying for it
Ganjam and Nayagarh are on BEE's ADEETIE list for food processing, but its loans start at Rs 10 lakh, more than one small mill's motor change. A group project, or the green loan check for other lenders, may fit better.
Two mills and one fix (estimate)
- 8 t a day mill: 18,571 kWh x 0.675 = 12.5 t CO2 a year, about 7.4 kg per tonne at 11 kWh
- 40 t a day mill: 200,000 kWh = 135 t CO2, about 11.5 kg per tonne at 17 kWh
- Separate drives on a mill whose drives use 28,857 kWh: 30% saved = 8,657 kWh = 5.8 t CO2
- Cluster: 14.5 million kWh x 0.675 = about 9,800 t CO2
Power and savings from BEE's energy conservation manual for the Ganjam rice mill cluster; CO2 at the CEA FY 2025-26 grid factor.
What Senseible does here
The green loan check shows what a lender asks before funding new motors; Senseible reads your electricity bills into monthly kWh and CO2 so the before and after are on record.
Sources: BEE SME programme, Manual on energy conservation measures in rice mills cluster, Ganjam, BEE, ADEETIE scheme booklet (eligible clusters and technologies), CEA, CO2 Baseline Database for the Indian Power Sector (grid factor 0.675 kg CO2 per kWh, FY 2025-26)
Last reviewed 2026-10-31.