Biofuels to gain momentum with a slew of government initiatives

Biofuels — derived from renewable biomass resources and wastes — provide a higher degree of national energy security in an eco-friendly and sustainable manner by supplementing conventional energy resources, thereby reducing dependence on imported fossil fuels and meeting the energy needs of India’s urban and vast rural population. Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) have been procuring biodiesel for the biodiesel blending programme since August 2015 and during April 2019 to October 2019, 8.62 crore litres of biodiesel have been procured by them.
Ethanol is produced by distilleries from various feedstocks. In order to encourage the production of ethanol, the government has announced remunerative prices for manufacture of ethanol depending on the feedstock.

The government has notified the National Policy on Biofuels 2018, which inter alia envisages a crucial role for village panchayats and communities in augmenting the indigenous feedstock supplies for biofuel production. The policy has also envisioned the plantation of non-edible oil seeds bearing trees and crops for feedstock generation from wastelands, through local communities under Gram panchayats and talukas. Farmers are encouraged to grow a variety of different biomass as well as oil seeds on their marginal lands, as intercrop and second crop wherever only one crop is raised by them under rain-fed conditions.

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