New Delhi, Feb 1 (UNI) In a major move towards green energy and to tackle the pernicious issue of stubble burning, thermal power plants will now co-fire five to seven per cent biomass pellets, which will result in CO2 savings of 38 million metric tons, and also provide extra income to farmers and job opportunities to locals and avoid stubble burning, the Union Budget announced today. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in her budget speech, also announced measures to facilitate domestic manufacturing of solar power to achieve the ambitious goal of 280 GW of installed solar capacity by 2030. The budget has made an additional allocation of Rs 19,500 crore for Production Linked Incentive for manufacture of high efficiency modules, with priority to fully integrated manufacturing units from polysilicon to solar PV modules, To promote Circular Economy, the transition to which is expected to help in productivity enhancement as well as creating large opportunities for new businesses and jobs, the action plans for ten sectors such as electronic waste, end-of-life vehicles, used oil waste, and toxic & hazardous industrial waste, are ready, she said. The focus now will be on addressing important cross cutting issues of infrastructure, reverse logistics, technology upgradation and integration with informal sector. This will be supported by active public policies covering regulations, extended producers' responsibilities framework and innovation facilitation. She said the low carbon development strategy as enunciated in the 'panchamrit' that the PM announced at Glasgow is an important reflection of our government's strong commitment towards sustainable development. She said the low carbon development strategy opens up huge employment opportunities and will take the country on a sustainable development path. To promote saving energy, which is an important aspect of energy management, she said energy efficiency and savings measures will be promoted, including in large commercial buildings, through the Energy Service Company (ESCO) business model. It will facilitate capacity building and awareness for energy audits, performance contracts, and common measurement & verification protocol. Four pilot projects for coal gasification and conversion of coal into chemicals required for the industry will be set-up to evolve technical and financial viability. The policies and required legislative changes to promote agro forestry and private forestry will be brought in. In addition, financial support will be provided to farmers belonging to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, who want to take up agro-forestry, she announced. UNI/RN