Harnessing Biomass in Achieving.Energy Self-sufficiency

India’s fastest growing economy is fuelled by energy. India’s energy consumption has more than doubled since 2000 and is growing rapidly. Oil and gas account for over 35 per cent of the total energy consumed in the country. Over 87 per cent of oil and around 44 per cent of gas consumed in the country are imported. India is the third largest consumer of oil after the US and China. The successful implementation of National Policy on Biofuel will not only help steadily move towards energy self-reliance but will help boost the rural economy, employment generation, additional income to farmers and create a clean and green environment in the process fulfilling the objectives of Aatmanirbhar Bharat, Make in India and Net Zero initiatives.

- RAMAKRISHNA YB

The NDA government under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi reviewed the Biofuel Programme in 2014. It was a shocking and surprising revelation that implementation of Ethanol Blended Petrol (EBP) was hovering around just 1.4 per cent on pan India basis as against a target of achieving 20 per cent blending by 2017. A National Working group was constituted in 2015 by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoP&NG) to draw a new road map and suggest ways for effective implementation of the program. A Biofuel cell was also created in MoP&NG. Biofuel substitution was identified as a highly potential opportunity to achieve the Prime Minister’s target to reduce fossil fuel import by 10 per cent by 2022.

National Policy on Biofuel 2018

The Government of India took a decision to shift the Biofuel Programme from the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) to MoP&NG in early 2018. MoP&NG soon came up with a New National Biofuel Policy - 2018. The policy aimed to utilise, develop and promote domestic feedstock for production of biofuels thereby increasingly substituting fossil fuels contributing to energy security. It also aimed at climate change mitigation apart from employment generation in a sustainable way. The goal of the policy was to achieve about 20 per cent blending of ethanol in petrol and about 5 per cent blending of biodiesel in diesel by 2030.

This goal will be achieved by

• Reinforcing ongoing ethanol/biodiesel supplies through increasing domestic production

• Setting up 2nd generation bio refineries Development of new feedstock for biofuels

• Development of new technologies for conversion to biofuels

• Creating suitable environment for biofuels and its mainstreaming