To recover energy from waste and effluent generated from industries, India has set up 186 waste-to-energy projects for generation of biogas, bioCNG power with a cumulative capacity of 317.03 MW so far.

Out of the 186 projects, 5 projects are based on municipality solid waste thus generating a total capacity of 66.5 MW of energy.

Meanwhile, 181 projects are agricultural, urban and industrial waste-based waste-to-energy projects. Out of this, 94 projects are biogas and bio compressed natural gas (CNG) off-grid purpose.

Speaking in the Lok Sabha, Union Power Minister R.K Singh explained that the country has so far installed 94 waste-to-energy projects for the generation of power from urban, industrial, agricultural, and municipal solid waste. The installed projects include 78 projects under the biogas (off-grid) category and 16 under the bioCNG section.

During the Question Hour session, Singh told Parliament that the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy is implementing the ‘Program on Energy from Urban, Industrial, and Agricultural Wastes/ Residues’ for the promotion of setting up of waste-to-energy projects to recover energy in the form of biogas or bio-CNG.

“The program provides central financial assistance in the form of back-ended subsidy to developers towards the setting of such projects,” he said.

According to Singh, the technologies for the recovery of biogas or power from the waste are well established and have a sustained supply of requisite quality feedstock and proper operation and maintenance regularly.

In terms of the state-wise number of waste-to-energy projects set up or likely to be set up in the country as of June 30, 2019, the state of Tamil Nadu tops the list with the installation of 28 biogas projects generating 1,57,320 cubic metric/day.

This is followed by Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh generating 110,580 cubic metric/day and 60,240 cubic metric/day, respectively. Andhra Pradesh has installed five biogas projects while Tamil Nadu has 10.

Last month, Mercom reported that the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy issued an expression of interest (EoI) for an independent third-party evaluation study of its biogas-based power generation (off-grid) and thermal energy applications program. The program has been implemented in eight states, namely, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.

Previously, it has been reported that India is planning to use compressed biogas as an alternative green transport fuel for the efficient management of biomass and organic waste.