IssuE 8 – ApRIl – JuNE 2011 - Winrock International India

From the Editor
Chief Patron
Deepak Gupta, Secretary, MNRE
Patron
Shashi Shekhar, Joint Secretary & National
Project Director, MNRE
Editorial Board
Sudhir Mohan, Adviser, MNRE
Srinivasan Iyer, Head (E&E Unit), UNDP
KS Popli, Director (Technical), IREDA
JR Meshram, Director, MNRE
Editor
KP Sukumaran
National Project Manager (ACE) & Former
Adviser, MNRE
Associate Editor
VK Jain, Director & NPC, MNRE
WII Editorial Team
Arvind Reddy, Program Manager
Gitika Goswami, Program Officer
Design and Layout
Jaison Jose, Sr. Program Associate &
Sasi M, Sr. Program Associate
Editorial Office
Project Management Cell
Ministry of New and Renewable Energy
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Telefax : 011-24369788
Website : www.mnre.gov.in
Email : jainvk@nic.in
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Disclaimer
The views expressed by authors including those of
the Editor in this magazine are not necessarily the
views of MNRE or WII.
Dear Readers,
Bioenergy India is dedicated in its efforts by
bringing to you yet another informative issue. In
this 8th Issue of Bioenergy India, we present a broad
spectrum of technology options for boosting the
sustainable bioenergy development. Sustainable
supply of the required quantity of biomass has
been one area of concern for up-scaling bioenergy
projects, especially biomass based power projects.
All stakeholders including Governments, industry,
research institutions, and project developers have
been working on various options to strengthen this critical link in the overall
chain of the bioenergy development.
Facing this scenario, our main focus of the Issue would be energy plantations
and the promises it holds to address the supply side concerns. We explore,
through case studies and research in this sector, the various innovations being
carried out in this area for sustainable biomass development.
Energy Plantation Projects India (EPPI) has initiated the pilot project in 500
acres at Sivagangai, Tamil Nadu that is expected to produce electricity at very
reasonable cost. Though the primary focus was to develop energy plantation
for its own power stations, it was found that the same techniques and the results
can be extremely beneficial for all other power plants. The article “Distributed
Power across India through Bioenergy” presents the details and prospects of
dedicated energy plantations based bio-energy and power projects, a concept
being explored by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE),
Government of India for strengthening bioenergy development in the country.
The solution to provide sufficient energy lies in adopting a mix of appropriate
technological solutions. The latest developments in attempting fast growing
species such as “BEEMA BAMBOO”, “Vanashree” etc. for plantations are
presented in this Issue, which shows promise towards availability of low cost
biomass from captive energy plantations. Positive and negative externalities
of biomass energy systems have been examined with particular reference
to Himalayas, which could be a useful tool while encouraging large scale
bioenergy projects in that region. Another study contained in this Issue shows
the positive impacts of agro-forestry in regenerating alkaline soils for rice and
wheat production.
The article on “Self-Power Generating Chula (wood stove)”, a New Alternate
Micro-Power Generation Technology” presents a new innovation to replace the
kerosene lamps used by the villagers with brighter and safer LEDs energized
by bioenergy.
To map the progress of our contemporaries, we bring to you policy perspective
and this time we analyze “Thailand’s Biomass Policy from an Indian
Perspective”.
Also included are our regular features for your information on What to
Read, Attend and Latest News in the sector to keep you abreast with all the
happenings.
We look forward to your suggestions and comments.
(K.P. Sukumaran)
April-June 2011
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