Biomass Market in India 2023

Biomass installed capacity in India stood at 10,205.61 MW in FY 2022, which was 8,295.78 MW in FY 2017, expanding at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.76% during the FY 2017 - FY 2022 period. The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has launched various programs for the promotion of efficient technologies for using biomass in different segments of the economy to ensure derivation of maximum benefits. Under the biomass power and cogeneration initiative, bagasse-based cogeneration in sugar mills has been implemented for the effective exploitation of biomass. Maharashtra had 5,272.84 Mega Watt (MW) of installed bioenergy in FY 2022, followed by Uttar Pradesh (4,385.78 MW), Karnataka (3,804.30 MW), Tamil Nadu (2,085.40 MW), and so forth. The biomass bagasse segment holds the third position in terms of generating renewable energy. In FY 2022, the biomass power installed capacity stood at 10205.61 Megawatt (MW). The biomass bagasse segment holds 92.44% share by the capacity installed in India as of FY 2022 and the non-bagasse segment holds 7.56% in FY 2022

Governmental initiatives:

• An agreement between The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas and businesses or institutions to enable the establishment of 5,000 Compressed Biogas Plant facilities by FY 2024 with a total capacity of 15 MT of CBG per year was signed as part of a policy on biofuels to encourage the blending of ethanol in vehicle fuel.
• According to the Government’s policy on biomass utilization, each gigawatt of capacity at 7% co-firing requires close to 0.25-0.3 million tons of biomass pellets.
• By 2030, by replacing 50-100 million tons of coal with biomass, the thermal power sector's pollution might be reduced by 90-180 million tons.

Key market influencers

The Indian energy system, along with the global trend, is moving away from fossil fuels like coal, oil, and gas as measures are taken to prevent climate change, which has prompted the development of new energy sources to fill the gap. One of the causes of the closure of biogas plants is the decline in the number of farm animals in rural regions, which prevents the supply of the contracted quantity of waste to plants.