Cover Story : Biogas Production in India.Incentives & Subsidies for Setting up Biogas Plants and Plans to promote Biogas in india
At a time when the viability and the future of Alternative Fuels is being debated, it is pertinent to look at one of the oldest renewable energy alternatives, Biogas..
From 2011 to the present, India has seen a 32% decline in domestic gas production, which is matched by a near equivalent rise in LNG imports (term and spot cargo) of 38%, which indicates the growing demand for gas in India. According to the Petroleum & Natural Gas Regulatory Board, this demand is expected to soar at a CAGR of 6.8% from 242.6 MMSCMD in 2012-13 to 746 MMSCMD in 2029-30.
This the time which we have to find alternatives for fuel source. The answer is Biogas.
Biogas is one of the viable alternatives to the burning energy question. In 2014-15, about 20,700 lakh cubic meters of Biogas is produced in the country which is equivalent to 5% of the total LPG consumption in the country. The Government is also extending substantial subsidy for setting up of new Biogas plants.
Biogas is primarily Methane and Carbon dioxide. It may have small amounts of hydrogen sulphide moisture and siloxanes. The gases methane, hydrogen and carbon monoxide can be combusted or oxidized with oxygen. The process of biogas generation is called anaerobic digestion (AD). This energy release allows biogas to be used as a fuel; it can be used for any heating purpose, such as cooking. It can also be used in a gas engine to convert the energy in the gas into electricity and heat.
The Biogas plant can be used both for domestic and Commercial purposes . The benefits of Biogas are
- Produces clean gas for cooking and lihting purposes
- Bi-product of durong biogas production is organic rich manuare , wgich can be used instead of chemical fertilzers
- Reduces the waste going to land fill.
- Safer than LPG
Biogas plant is suitable for Household, Apartments, Hotels, Industrial Canteens, Hospitals
Biogas Production in India
In response to a series of questions posed to the New and Renewable Energy Ministry in the Loksabha on Biogas plants and the production of biogas across the country, the minister in charge, Mr. Piyush Goyal has given the following information
In India, the estimate for the production of biogas is about 20,757 lakh cubic meters in 2014-15. This is equivalent to 6.6 crore domestic LPG cylinders. This is equivalent to 5% of the total LPG consumption in the country today.
Within states, Maharashtra tops the production with 3578 lakh cubic meters while Andhra Pradesh comes next with 2165 lakh cubic meters.
Plans to promote Biogas
Under the twelfth five year plan (2012-2017), the government of India had set a target to set up 6.5 lakh biogas plants across the nation with a budget of Rs.650 crore under a program called, the National Biogas and Manure Management Program (NBMMP). It had been estimated that by setting up of these biogas plants, about 1-6 cubic meter of biogas per day and 4745 lakh cubic meter biogas could be produced annually. The program is being implemented by the State Nodal Departments/State Nodal Agencies and Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC), Biogas Development and Training Centers (BDTCs).
What is the Progress of the plan?
Out of the 1.06 lakh biogas plants planned to be setup in 2013-14, 79% that is, 83540 plants have been successfully setup. For the year 2014-15, of the 1.1 lakh plants planned to be setup, 45146 were already setup as of 31st December 2014. Comparing both the years, there is a 1.7% increase in the number of plants that were planned to be setup and also an encouraging 3% increase in the number installed until the end of 2014.
Incentives & Subsidies for Setting up Biogas Plants
Portable Biogas plant setup (for Domestic purpose)
Central subsidy is being extended for setting up of a biogas plant. For one cubic meter biogas plant, subsidies of Rs.5500 and Rs.7000 are given for general category and SC/ST respectively whereas for setting up a 2-6 cubic meter biogas plant, Rs.9,000 and Rs.11,000 subsidies are given to the general and SC/ST categories respectively.
North-Eastern states, including Sikkim are given a higher subsidy in setting up biogas plants. In this region, Rs.15000 and Rs.17000 are given for one cubic meter and 2-6 cubic meter biogas plants respectively. However, in Assam, these numbers are a little lower. There is also an additional subsidy of Rs.1200 given for toilet linked biogas plants. The following table captures the amount of subsidy extended for setting up of a biogas plant.
| S.No | Areas | Rates of Central Subsidy for different capacities of biogas plants (in Rupees) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Cubic Metre | 2- 6 Cubic Metre | ||
| 1 | North Eastern Region States including Sikkim (except plain areas of Assam) | 15,000 | 17,000 |
| 2 | Plain areas of Assam. | 10,000 | 11,000 |
| 3 | Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttrakhand, Niligiri of Tamil Nadu, Sadar Kurseong & Kalimpong Sub-Divisions of Darjeeling, Sunderbans (W.B.) and Andaman & Nicobar Islands. | 7,000 | 11,000 |
| 4 | Scheduled castes / Scheduled Tribes of other than NE Region States including Sikkim & other Hilly States /regions as given in Sl.no.3 above. | 7,000 | 11,000 |
| 5 | All other areas | 5,500 | 9,000 |
The minister also said that 2.53 lakh families were benefited with biogas plants which were set up using the Rs.307.08 crore that was released from the proposed budget until 12th March 2015.
"Biogas market potential is huge. There is a demand for Kitchen biogas plant But due to lack of awareness it's not growing at the expected rate .Currently it's picking up due to swacch bharath n other initiatives by central govt" says Vinayaka Kashyap, Managing partner at Quantum Green-Biogas and waste management solutions.
Unfortunately, around 4.5% of the inspected Biogas plants are non functional. A total of 4194 biogas plants established during the 11th plan period in 8 different states were inspected.
This story was first published on Factly
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