Leveraging renewable energy to make India sustainable through Solid Biofuels

Abstract or Introduction

India is at the global center stage ever since it has embarked on the journey of a profound socio-economic transformation. Propelled by world’s largest and most vibrant democracy and home to over one-sixth of the world’s population, India is already in the top league being the third-largest economy. India’s industrialization and modernization has gathered significant momentum through conducive policies and recent campaigns like “Make in India” which envisage India as a manufacturing hub.

Whilst there are many challenges for achieving envisaged success of “Make in India” campaign, how to sustainably fuel the manufacturing remains a major question. Manufacturing-based growth requires at least 10-fold more energy per unit of value added when compared with growth led by the services sector. For realizing the milestones envisaged for “Make in India”,
the additional demands on energy arise primarily from industry. This additional energy shall be required by not only energy-intensive sectors but also from other industries that are targeted by the “Make in India” campaign such as textiles, food processing, industrial equipment and machinery. Besides consequential incremental energy demands from road freight, residential consumption and for a more mechanized and productive agricultural sector also rise.

Whilst there has been a consistent increase in global renewable fuels by industrial consumers, the focus has been more on Solar and Wind and other unconventional sources which require significant investment. Amidst renewable energy resources, Biomass based Solid Biofuels offer a vast potential for feeding the fuel requirements of a variety of Industrial Boilers. Besides being fully eco-friendly, Biomass based Solid Biofuels can be easily manufactured. Rich availability of biomass from mainly agrarian economy of India fetches a good opportunity to produce green fuel with low investment and economic advantage.

The paper discusses the potential of using Biomass Based Solid Biofuels like Briquettes and Pellets as sustainable and alternate fuel for industrial usage and related issues.