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Bio-energy: A potential source of clean power
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With demand for power ever on the increase, it’s time that we caught up with the environment-friendly generation techniques, says Mythili G. Nirvan
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Bangalore is the IT capital of India. And power is a key factor to ensure it stays ahead in the race for global supremacy as an investment destination. Power has down the ages been the backbone of industry and continues to play a significant role in industrial development. In the context of Bangalore, power has two dimensions. One is the efficient supply, and an even bigger dimension is clean and sustainable power generation technology.
While hydel and thermal power generation techniques have been used here, a renewable source needs to be promoted extensively. Bio-energy is one potential source that needs to be tapped, says Ramakumar Purushotham, Associate Vice President-Energy Upstream, Enzen Global, an energy and environment consulting firm.
Bio-energy is stored energy from the sun that is contained in materials such as plant matter and animal waste, known as biomass. Biomass is considered renewable because it is replenished more quickly when compared to the millions of years required to replenish fossil fuels.
The wide variety of biomass fuel sources include agricultural residue, pulp/paper mill residue, urban wood waste, forest residue, energy crops, landfill methane, and animal waste.
“Energy in the form of electricity, heat, steam, and fuels can be derived from these sources through conversion methods such as direct combustion, anaerobic digestion and gasification. The best near-term economic opportunity for biomass in the Indian context, particularly in heat and power applications, is biomass gasification or methanation process,” apprises Ramakumar.
Waste disposal
This is one of the major environmental challenges being faced by many cities in India. Most of the cities don’t have adequate facilities for waste collection, transportation and disposal. Existing landfills are full beyond capacity. As a result, more than three-fourths of solid waste being generated in the city is not disposed off in a hygienic manner. It is being left to rot in open sites, burnt in dump sites, or finds its way to the sewers. All these lead to serious environmental problems. It is high time the municipal corporations, state governments, and policy makers take up the matter seriously.
In the recent years, the waste-to-energy project has gained attention due to its double benefits of solving environmental pollution due to waste disposal and extracting energy from waste.
“On an average, every day about 3,000 tonnes of solid waste is being generated in Bangalore. About half is biodegradable waste, which is a potential source of energy and also nitrogen rich manure. It has been estimated that more than 30MW of energy could be produced from the biodegradable waste being generated in the city,” says Ramakumar.
“The total bio-energy potential in the country is estimated to be 16,000 MWe and the current installation is only about 1,252 Mw considering all forms of biomass conversion process of which the leading contribution is from Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, and Chattisgarh. The share of gasification and methanation process in terms of installation is 248 MWe.”
There is a huge opportunity in this stream since a vast potential of resources are lying unused in the country. With the State utilities obligated to meet the renewable purchase obligation varying from 3-10 percent of the power generated, bio-energy could be a pragmatic solution for an agrarian economy like ours.
“The key driver for growth would be an initiative by the utilities to map local resources and streamline logistics to ensure efficient and continuous long-term supply. This, along with social awareness programmes in partnership with technology providers across the country, would lead to a bio-energy revolution”, says Ramakumar.
With new and improved technologies for biomass-based energy and thermal generation which are cost-effective and keep a check on the pollution issues, this sector needs to be addressed with the right framework plan and a collaborative approach.
The government offers subsidies and other tax benefits for these investments. Schemes like the Rural Village Electrification (RVE) and Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyut Vitran Yojna (RGVVY) could augment this initiative.
The corporate sector across the country could look at sponsoring select villages as a part of the CSR initiative to enable and ensure a clean and green tomorrow.
Tapping bio-energy
• Bio-energy is stored energy from the sun contained in materials such as plant matter and animal waste, known as biomass
• Biomass is considered renewable because it is replenished more quickly than fossil fuels
• Biomass fuel sources include agricultural residue, pulp/paper mill residue, urban wood waste, forest residue, energy crops, landfill methane, and animal waste
• Energy in the form of electricity, heat, steam, and fuels can be derived through conversion methods such as direct combustion, anaerobic digestion and gasification
• The best near-term economic opportunity for biomass in India is biomass gasification or methanation process
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Property Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Hyderabad
Kochi
Thiruvananthapuram
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