Overview - Biomass Sector in India For India, biomass has always been an important energy source.

Although the ener gy scenario in India today indicates a growing dependence on the conventional fo rms of energy, about 32% of the total primary energy use in the country is still derived from biomass and more than 70% of the country's population depends upon it for its energy needs. India has a large agricultural industry and this sub sector of the economy produ ces 540 million tonnes of biomass each year, of which it is estimated that 70-75 % of biomass are used as fodder, fuel and other purposes. The current potential for power generation from surplus agro and forestry residues is estimated at ~18 ,000 MWe. With progressively higher steam parameters and efficient project configuration i n new sugar mills and modernization of existing ones, the potential of surplus p ower generation through bagasse cogeneration in sugar mills is estimated at 7,00 0 MW. Thus the total estimated biomass power potential is about 25,000 MW. Biomass Capacity Development in India Social Benefits of Biomass based power plant Biomass power generation leads to several social benefits: * Biomass power plants monetize the heat value of biomass, which brings in a dditional income to various players in the biomass supply chain (farmers, trader s, agro processing industries such rice mills etc). * It creates additional employment in collection and transportation of bioma ss, as well as additional employment in power generation. * It brings economic and income generation activity into rural areas especiall y for women - thereby contributing to local & regional development. * It diversifies the rural economy, which generally rely entirely on food cr ops, by introducing energy plantations. This is all the more important, since mo st energy plantations are grown on so called "wasteland" which have, no/minimal access to irrigation. This is a significant aspect in water stressed areas. * In countries like India, the employment generated in fuel collection and l ogistics has excellent gender mix in favor of women, which, is lacking in many e mployment generation schemes of the government and in other sectors such as infr astructure building (roads, highways etc.). This leads to women empowerment in t he plant hinterland. * It brings additional skills to rural areas and can raise the income levels of farmers and laborers, and this in turn improves the standard of living. The creation of employment opportunities in rural areas reduces the government spend ing requirement on employment generation and at the same time brings in addition al tax revenues to the government. Environmental Benefits of Biomass based power plant The benefits of biomass use as a source of fuel in cogeneration systems, besides energy security & independence of the industries, include several environmental benefits, mainly in terms of GHG reduction: * Biomass Power generation, is considered to be CO2 neutral, since only the amount of carbon fixed during the growth of a crop/tree, is emitted during its c ombustion. * Biomass is traditionally used as cooking fuel in households in many countr ies, especially in rural areas, which is the cause of indoor air pollution and h ealth impacts, such as asthma, bronchitis, respiratory infections etc. on women & children, leading to morbidity & mortality. Governments in various countries p

rovide clean fuels such as LPG & kerosene, at subsidized prices, to reduce & dis engage firewood/ biomass as a cooking fuel. Hence increasing amount of biomass i s available as surplus which can be more efficiently utilized for power generati on. * Open burning and cooking cause a high level of particulate matter problems , which are addressed effectively, with electrostatic precipitators (ESP) in bio mass power plants. * The surplus biomass is burnt in the fields, by farmers, to get rid of it i n time for the plantation of next crop. This open burning in the fields, have en vironmental & health impacts which can be alleviated due to efficient utilizatio n and burning process in the power plant. * It reduces the transmission losses which otherwise would have incurred whe n the electricity is supplied to the rural areas where typically these plants ar e located. This in turn leads to less fuel usage to produce electricity by an eq uivalent amount. Under Evaluation GIL Growth Plans GIL has a strong pipeline of ~100 MW of projects biomass projects under evaluati on at various stages of development. In this vertical GIL is very selective abou t its investments and targets only the best in class projects. By 2015, GIL aspires to have more than 40 MW of best in class operating biomass projects in India and have a pipeline of 80 MW of projects under development.