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India boosts biomass by strengthening supply chains
17/7/2024
8 min read
A $100mn national programme is enabling the use of cattle dung, biomass and urban and industrial biowaste for energy recovery in India. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), these initiatives by the government may produce about 15% of India’s total energy demand. Currently, there are over 800 biomass power projects, along with bagasse and non-bagasse cogeneration projects, reports Raghavendra Verma.
Thermal power plants in the 300 km radius of Delhi have been directed to increase the use of paddy straw, which is currently burnt in the fields, causing huge air pollution. Farmers had neither any beneficial use of this straw nor a transport network to move it. Now, with air pollution causing serious health hazards, authorities are forced to find methods of disposal. This is one example of how biomass markets are changing in India.
India is boosting its biomass energy production with a $100mn national biowaste programme by augmenting supply chains, providing financial incentives and issuing mandates for thermal power producers to supplement coal with agricultural residues.
Local entrepreneurship, technological innovations and a pressing need to control air pollution are also increasing generation of biomass energy, which according to the IEA’s India Energy Outlook 2021 could supply 15% of the country’s total energy demand, but which only currently supplies 2.3%.