5K CBG plants by 2023

Bhubaneswar:  Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Sunday said around 5,000 Compressed Bio Gas (CBG) plants will be set across the country by 2023. He said these plants, meant for extracting biogas from agricultural residue, cattle dung and municipal solid waste, will have an estimated annual CBG production of 15 million tonne.

Pradhan was speaking at a road show organised by oil marketing companies here to sensitise the stakeholders to participate in the SATAT (Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation) initiative. 

Under the initiative, CBG will be promoted as an alternative by the Central government on October 1, 2018. The initiative will also create employment opportunities, promote economic growth, and boost all-round development of Odisha, he said. 

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

Pradhan said CBG can be produced from various types of feed stocks such as agriculture residues, pressmud and spent wash of distilleries, sewage water, municipal solid waste (MSW), cattle dung and biodegradable fractions of industrial waste.

CBG is replacement of natural gas and can be used in the transportation sector in place of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG).  Presently, consumption of natural gas in India is about 140 MMSCMD, of which 70 MMSCMD is imported. 

Government intends to move towards gas-based economy by increasing the share of natural gas in India’s energy basket from present 6-7 per cent to 15 per cent by the year 2022.