The industry players engaged in the biofuels and bio-energy sector have hailed the Cabinet's recent approval to National Policy on Biofuel. The industry, which includes stakeholders such as clean energy solutions providers, equipment makers and technology players look at it as a big boost to the bio-energy sector.

India’s clean energy sector has missed its capacity addition target for second year in a row owing to lapses in Solar (roof-top) and wind energy sector. The Bio-power capacity for 2017-18 stood at 519 MW against the target of 340 MW.

Terming the Policy decision as a an impetus for more investment from the private players in the sector, Aditya Handa, MD and CEO, Abellon CleanEnergy stated that the policy, for the first time, provides a viable framework for the bio-energy sector in India.

"India produces substantial amount of municipal waste and agricultural residue. There is a growing consensus among industry players and policy makers to look for ways of efficiently disposing these wastes and creating value out of them," said Handa.

However, such projects would require infrastructure for large-scale and environmentally safe processing of waste. "Often, waste management companies willing to undertake projects/infrastructure development are faced with unrealistic expectations and financial uncertainties. With the National Biofuel Policy, the government has essentially given impetus for more investment from the private players in the sector," he said.

Energy from biomass is reliable as it is free of fluctuation and does not need storage. However, it is not the preferred renewable energy source due to unavailability of biomass supply chain on a regular basis.

Biomass from agriculture is available only after harvesting period which stretches only for 2-3 months in a year.

Thus, there is a need to procure and then store required quantity of biomass within this stipulated time.

"With a roadmap in place, the policy will encourage setting up of supply chain and procurement mechanisms for bio-mass plants. Apart from energy generation, these residues can be harnessed in to produce solid bio-fuels such as bio pellets that can effectively replace LPG, diesel and other fossil fuel based systems across a broad spectrum of applications," he added.

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