As on 28.02.2026, the details of installed capacity under bioenergy projects and annual generation from bioenergy over the last five years, year-wise is given at Annexure-I.

As per information received from the Central Electricity Authority (CEA):

·      Biomass co-firing in thermal power plants (TPPs) offers significant environmental and operational benefits, including reduced fossil fuel consumption, prevention of open burning of agricultural residues, improved regional air quality through lower particulate and gaseous emissions.

As of 28.02.2026, the co-firing of carbon-neutral biomass pellets with coal in TPPs has prevented approximately 5.7 million metric tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions in the country since its inception in FY 2019–20.

(c): The key barriers to scaling bioenergy projects are given as under:

        i.    Feedstock Availability: Challenges in aggregation of biomass feedstock and year-round storage.

High Capital Cost per MW: Bioenergy projects require significantly higher capital investment per MW compared to other renewable energy sources such as solar and wind, if used for generation of electricity.

The Government has taken various initiatives to integrate bioenergy for mitigation of air pollution and augment waste management strategies. The details are given at Annexure-II.

A. The details on the current installed capacity and annual generation from bioenergy is given as under:

Sl No	Year	Installed Capacity			Annual Generation (in Million Units) *
		Biomass	WtE	Biogas
		(MW)	(MWe)	(Nos.)	Biomass	Bagasse
1	2020-21	7.05	41.75	23019	3512.978	11302.84846
2	2021-22	60	80.16	0	3482.697	12573.88221
3	2022-23	42.4	75.69	9627	3161.323	12863.15931
4	2023-24	107.3	35.37	13219	3417.188	10825.59055
5	2024-25	387.8	254.41	12067	3738.674	9335.316625

 

* Source: Central Electricity Authority (CEA)

The details of the initiatives taken by the Government to integrate bioenergy for mitigation of air pollution and augment waste management strategies are given as under:

I. MNRE supports installation of bioenergy plants under different components of National Bioenergy Programme (NBP) by providing Central Financial Assistance (CFA). This includes biomass-based (non-bagasse based) plants for power generation, briquettes/ pellets manufacturing plants and compressed biogas (CBG/BioCNG) Plants.

II. The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare (MoAF&W) under the Crop Residue Management (CRM) Scheme provides incentives for management of crop residue. Under this scheme, financial assistance @ 50% is provided to the farmers for purchase of crop residue management machinery and @ 80% is provided to Rural Entrepreneurs (Rural youth and farmer as an entrepreneur), Cooperative Societies of Farmers (Agriculture/ Horticulture/Makhana etc.), Day-NRLM Cluster Level Federations and Self-Help Groups (SHGs), Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) and Panchayats for establishment of Custom Hiring Centres of crop residue management machines. Financial support of 65% up to a maximum of Rs. 1.50 Crore is also provided to paddy supply chain projects on the capital cost of machinery and equipment. CRM Scheme is not applicable in the State of Maharashtra.

III. Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), provides one-time financial support under Environment Protection Charge funds for establishment of pelletization and torrefaction plants to promote utilization of paddy straw.

IV. The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, under its Biomass Aggregation Machinery (BAM) Scheme, provides support to Compressed Bio Gas (CBG) producers in procurement of biomass collection and aggregation machinery to facilitate efficient utilization of agri-residues and prevent open-field burning.

V. As per the information provided by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), under Solid Waste Management component of Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban 2.0, Central Financial Assistance (CFA) is provided for setting up various type of waste processing facilities such as Material Recovery Facilities (MRFs), Waste to Compost (WtC) plants, Bio-methanation plants, Refused Derived Fuel (RDF) processing facilities, Waste to Electricity (WtE) plants, Construction and Demolition (C&D) waste plants, sanitary landfill including CBG plant.

This information was given by the Minister of State for Ministry of New And Renewable Energy, Shri Shripad Yesso Naik, in Rajya Sabha today.

 

****

Navin Sreejith

 

(Release ID: 2244665) Visitor Counter : 215