(a) whether the Government has set up biogas/waste-to-energy plants in the country;
(b) if so, the details thereof including the number of such plants with installed capacity operating in the country, State/UT-wise; and
(c) the steps taken/being taken by the Government to promote such power plants?
THE MINISTER OF STATE (I/C) FOR NEW & RENEWABLE ENERGY, POWER and MoS for SKILL DEVELOPMENT AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP
(SHRI R.K. SINGH)
(a)to(c) The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy promotes installation of Biogas/ Waste-to-Energy plants to generate Biogas/BioCNG/ Power in the Country through following schemes/incentives:
i. Financial assistance available under the Programme on Energy from Urban, Industrial and Agricultural Wastes/ Residues for setting up large scale Biogas plants/Waste to Energy plants.
ii. Financial assistance available under Biogas based Power Generation (Off-Grid) and Thermal Energy application Programme (BPGTP) for promoting biogas generation for decentralized applications viz. decentralized power generation in the capacity range 3 kW to 250 kW and also for thermal energy applications having size range of biogas plants from 30 m3 to 2500 m3 per day.
iii. Concessional Customs Duty and GST at rate of 5% for initial setting up of grid connected projects for power generation;
iv. ‘Must Run’ status to Waste to Energy projects.
v. Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has also amended the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989 and included the provisions for usage of biogas, in the form of bio-CNG, in motor vehicles produced from waste.
So far, 311 Biogas based Power generation projects (off-grid projects in the capacity range of 3kW to 250kW) with cumulative installed capacity of 7.128 MW and 201 Waste-to-Energy projects with cumulative capacity of 330.93MWeq for generation of Biogas /BioCNG /Power based on urban, industrial and agricultural waste have been established in the country. As per the evaluation study of the BPGTP scheme, about 90 % of the installed projects / plants of the inspected sample size have been found to be in working condition.
The State/UT-wise details of installed Biogas based Power projects (off-grid projects in the capacity range of 3kW to 250kW) and Waste-to-Energy plants in the country, as on 31.12.2019, are given at Annexure-I and Annexure-II respectively.
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