Bioenergy from crop residues in India - potential, opportunities, challenges and policy imperatives

This paper explores the trend in crop residue availability and the surplus quantity available for bioenergy generation and its potential at the national and regional levels. We selected 26 crops for the analysis based on residue generation capacity and feedstock suitability for energy generation and analyzed the data for the periods 199596 and 2015-16. The bioenergy potential based on all crop residues was 1892 PJ in 2015-16 and it is equivalent to 6.7% of the total primary energy consumption or 34% of the total electricity consumption of India. We also illustrate the double loss caused by on-field burning of crop residue in terms of bioenergy potential foregone (1210PJ) and GHG emission (4508 Gg) for the three major crops (rice, wheat, and sugarcane). The opportunities and challenges faced by biomass power projects are discussed. Growing energy demand, underutilization of bioenergy potential, and favourable policy climate create significant opportunities while techno-economic feasibility and community acceptance emerge as the major challenges for crop residue-based power generation. We discuss policy implications from these aspects and present a case for considering the net environmental benefits in fixing tariffs or the cost of production of energy from crop residue to promote sustainable energy production.