Holy cow: Coal-starved India looks to bioenergy to cut carbon

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Indian cow dung, sacred to many in the Hindu-majority country, is being used to support the movement towards biogas fuel.

Sacred cows in India are revered as embodiments of Hindu gods and are being promoted as energy converters by a government intent on encouraging biogas production in order to reduce its dependence on coal.

It is no exaggeration to say that Nakul Kumar Sardana is proud of his new factory in Barsana, in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.

First, says the vice president of a biomass joint venture between India’s Adani Group and France’s Total Energies, because it occupies “one of the holiest sites in the world.”

A four-hour drive south of the smog-filled capital New Delhi, among fields dotted with brick chimneys, the small town of Barsana welcomes pilgrims who come to honor the Hindu goddess Radha.

But Sardana is also proud that the methane plant he opened in March is “the largest and most technologically advanced biogas facility” in India.

It was built in Barsana to be as close as possible to raw fuel – cattle dung and harvest straw.

“This area is home to one million cows,” he said. “Their dung has been used as fuel for centuries in cooking.”

Cows have been blamed for contributing to global warming because they produce methane – a powerful greenhouse gas – in their dung or when they burp.

Rice residue, which was historically burned after harvest, is now combined with dung to produce biogas and fertiliser.

But in this case, the region finds an innovative use for the waste produced by livestock, which is used to produce their milk. Eating it is taboo for many Hindus.

The stalks left after the rice is harvested—which would otherwise be burned—join the slurry.

“Farmers traditionally burn it, causing smog and pollution,” he added.

“By using natural waste, we produce not only compressed biogas, but also high-quality organic fertilizer.”

Long lines of tractors dump manure and straw into the tanks of the factory, which produces 10 tons of gas and 92 tons of fertilizer daily.

“waste diversion”

In its endless quest for energy to fuel its economic growth, the world’s most populous country — and third-largest fossil fuel polluter — has pushed biogas to achieve its promised transition to carbon neutrality by 2070.

In 2018, the government set itself an ambitious goal of building 5,000 biogas plants in six years.

Employees at the Barsana biogas plant dump a truckload of cow dung into a mixing tank.

But despite generous subsidies and the offer of buyback guarantees, the project attracted little initial interest – until the government forced its hand on the producers.

From April 2025, at least 1% of the liquid gas fueling both vehicles and for domestic use must be biogas, rising to 5% by 2028.

This has prompted a response from major players, starting with billionaires Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani – both close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi – who are eyeing lucrative public contracts.

Ambani promised that his group Reliance would build 55 biogas plants by the end of 2025 to transform “food producers into energy producers” and create 30,000 jobs.

Its rival, Adani, plans to invest about $200 million in this sector over the next three to five years.

“The government seeks to divert waste for the country’s wealth,” Adani Total Gas CEO Suresh Manglani said.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) says that both China and India are leading global growth in bioenergy, which is seen as one of the solutions to mitigate global warming.

Although biofuels are still more expensive than conventional gas, Indian production is expected to grow by 88% by 2030, it predicts.

The cost of building the Barsana biogas plant, located four hours south of smog-plagued New Delhi, is $25 million.

Sunil Pandey of the Energy and Resources Institute said that biogas is considered clean energy because the waste used in its production is completely natural.

“It is a sustainable solution to making wealth from waste,” he told AFP.

“The potential is huge”

But the contribution of biogas to India’s transition away from highly polluting coal – which currently fuels nearly 70 percent of its electricity – will be relatively small.

India plans to more than double the share of gas in its energy mix, from 6% to 15% by 2030.

But the bulk of that will be LNG, with Adani and TotalEnergies opening an LNG port on India’s east coast at Dhamra.

Burning gas to produce electricity also releases harmful emissions, although less than coal and oil.

Total says its support for biogas is more about environmental responsibility than a business opportunity.

India hopes to double the share of gas in its energy mix to 15 percent by 2030, but only a small portion will come from biogas.

“Biogas goes beyond just numbers and business plans,” said Sangkaran Ratnam, Chairman and Managing Director, Total Energies India.

“It also has a huge positive impact on rural communities in terms of jobs, in terms of environmental care, and alternative forms of income.”

The biogas market is “small in the big picture of things” but “the potential is huge,” said Tejpreet Chopra, president of renewable energy company Bharat Light & Power.

But the investments required are enormous. The Barsana plant costs $25 million, while the price of biogas remains uncompetitive: $14 per cubic metre, compared to $6 for LNG.

However, Sardana remains more convinced than ever that biogas is the key.

“We will learn the basic details and improve all processes,” he said.

“We stop wasting energy, create jobs in rural areas, and contribute to a more sustainable environment.”

© 2024 Agence France-Presse

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