India to boost household biogas production

On 22 March, the India’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy said that it is going to promote the use of tens of thousands of household biogas plants in an effort to replace the burning of biomass for cooking and light.

The National Biogas and Manure Management Programme (NBMMP) is aiming to see the adoption of 65,180 family-sized biogas plants over the next year to provide a cleaner cooking fuel and lighting. The plants also produce a fertiliser that can improve crop yield and soil quality as a by-product.

Over 4.9 million plants have already been installed under the programme, according to the Ministry, with 65.9% of households remaining dependent on solid biomass. The programme began in 2014 and is promoted in local newspapers, schools and government buildings.

New biogas plant designs have been introduced as part of the programme, including the Solid-State Deenbandhu.

The NBMMP is part of a wider set of policies to improve the decentralised energy systems that many rural communities in India depend on.