Biomass gasification in India – Status and Trends

By Narsi Santhanam • May 9th, 2009 • Category: Uncategorized

I was reading a rather old (I think it was written in 2000, though not entirely sure) article when it caught my eye that the article predicted that electricity generation from biomass gasification in India is likely to shoot 88 fold in 7-8 years primarily owing to the governmental push for the same. Here we are talking about the small biomass gasifiers ( the Wood Gas variety) that will be used in rural areas.

“In India the realization for the use of Biomass Gasifier has increased tremendously and the Government is also offering very good initiatives through the combined efforts of the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Non Conventional Energy Sources, both have geared up to boost the power generation from Biomass to 19000 MW (Mega Watt) approximately from the present level of just 220 MW , which is just an un-imaginable rise in the sector . The energy generated from biomass will be used to meet some major needs in the agriculture and rural sectors.”

This rise is expected in 7-8 years, that will almost a doubling every year for so many years. Now this was all just vision, so how does it stack up in reality? I did a check. In 2004, the installed capacity was 630 MW (source – PDF). But I am not able to find data for dates after that…wonder what the present capacity is!

About the Author

Narasimhan (Narsi) has extensive experience in understanding renewable energy markets and strategic levers for success in these markets. His special focus has been his work on the Indian renewable energy industry. His work in the previous 15 years have spanned market and industry research, product management and international sales, and strategic consulting. see more http://www.eai.in/ref/team/ns.html

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