India eyes 5,000 biogas plants by 2023

It aims to raise the share of gas in the energy mix to 15%.

About 5,000 compressed biogas (CBG) power plants will be set across India by 2023, said Petroleum and Natural Gas minister Dharmendra Pradhan, local paper Business Today reports.

CBG production is expected to hit 15 million tonnes, which will be extracted from agricultural residue, cattle dung, and municipal solid waste.

The CBG will be promoted as an alternative under the SATAT (Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation) initiative, which was launched by the central government on 1 October 2018.

The SATAT initiative aims to boost the availability of more affordable transport fuels, better use of agricultural residue, cattle dung, and municipal solid waste as well as provide an additional source of revenue to farmers.

The minister added that CBG can be produced from various types of feedstocks such as agriculture residues, press mud and spent wash of distilleries, sewage water, municipal solid waste (MSW), cattle dung and biodegradable fractions of industrial waste.

The government intends to raise the share of natural gas in India's energy basket from 6-7% to 15% by 2022.