Six months before the first vessel called at Trivandrum port, a proposal was submitted to the Kerala government urging the state to pursue green methanol as an alternative marine fuel. Despite subsequent representations to the finance ministry during pre-budget consultations, the proposal was shelved.
Subsequent developments have demonstrated the viability of the concept. A local trial showed that traditional fishing outboard motors can be retrofitted to run on methanol. Meanwhile, NTPC’s plant at Kayamkulam generated 100 MW of electricity using 90 tonnes of imported methanol procured at INR 65 (~USD 0.75) a kilogramme.
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