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Building a Sustainable Energy Future for India. Distributed Generation using biomass technologies Vivek Gupta Saran Renewable Energy 8 - 9 February 2010. India – mostly rural. > 600,000 villages in India 75% of population in villages
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Building a Sustainable Energy Future for India Distributed Generation using biomass technologies Vivek Gupta Saran Renewable Energy 8 - 9 February 2010
India – mostly rural • > 600,000 villages in India • 75% of population in villages • 60 to 70% directly/ indirectly dependent on agriculture • Almost all of rural population dependent on different forms of Biomass for energy • 188 million tons/ year of surplus biomass potential of 24,000 MW of power • 144 mn tons/ year Agro waste (18,000 MW) • 44 mn tons/ year Forest waste & wastelands (6,000 MW) • Source: National Biomass Resource Atlas – MNRE, IISc Huge potential of harnessing biomass for energy
Cooking/ Heating Lighting Micro-industries Open Chullas/ fires Kerosene lamps Diesel gensets Energy requirement in rural areas…how are they being met currently Inefficient Polluting Health hazards • Conventional energy – LPG, Grid power (fossil fuels) • Renewable sources – Biomass, Solar, Hydro, etc
Cooking Lighting Micro-industries Advanced stoves Biomassgasification/ combustion Biogas Biofuels Modern forms of using biomass Biomass gasification- Advantages: • Triple bottom line • Income generation for farmers & employment • Clean & Environment friendly • Lower running cost – than current sources of power • Distributed generation: Lower T&D losses
What SRE has done till now • Set up an independent power plant of 120 kW in Garkha village Innovations: • Water-resistant and fast growing “Dhaincha” plant grown in waterlogged fallow land used as raw materials • Medium voltage distribution to cover greater distances • Used existing diesel genset owners as franchisees to distribute electricity • Not competing with local biomass • Use of fallow land
Benefits Replaced 25 diesel gensets used by micro enterprises Replaced 10 diesel water pumping stations (for irrigation) Increase income of farmers Dhaincha plantations : 50 acres of waterlogged fallow land utilised (one third of cost is raw materials ) Employment in collection & transportation of biomass Employment in power plant Benefit of >Rs. 55 lacs per year for farmers and micro-industries One small plant is improving the lives of >1500 people Thousands of such plants across can change the life in rural India
Challenges • High capital costs • Long gestation period • Building raw material linkages • Users to switch to electricity from diesel engines • Price of biomass increasing disproportionately in project vicinity • High transportation costs • Technology: Maintenance, Training • Makes such initiatives/ projects riskier and difficult to implement • While biomass plants have long term viability, they are not being set up We have demonstrated a successful model in our part of the country
Economics –plan versus actual • Lower utilisation – higher capital cost per unit • Lower biomass availability
Identified locations and prepared project reports Obtained Govt. approvals Trained local employees Hurdles: Investment finance crucial need Currently, bank finance is practically impossible: Biomass plants perceived as ‘riskier’ and Banks in Bihar have lowest credit-deposit ratio in India Low purchase price (tariff) of power from biomass The way forward
Enablers to make low-carbon energy viable • Carbon credits • Renewable Energy Certificates – for small & large plants • Capital subsidies or grants • Soft loans • Higher tariff for grid linked biomass plants • Proper utilisation of wastelands for raw materials • Regulations/ certifications of suppliers by MNRE • Possible to set up large number of biomass based power plants • Energy security and social development
Govt. initiative of rural electrification • RGGVY (Rajiv Gandhi Gramin Vidyutikaran Yogana) has been implemented to cover large number of villages • Large number of small villages scattered throughout the country • Cost of setting up distribution infra is very high • T&D losses are high • Breakdown/ theft of infrastructure Decentralised model: • Decentralised generation cost is higher • But Distribution is much cheaper and reliable • Social benefits - local employment and income generation Decentralised model is better and cost effective Your logo here