Introduction
Biomass resources have been in use for a variety of purposes since ages. Their multitude of uses includes usage as a livestock feed, meeting domestic and industrial thermal requirements, and the generation of power to fulfil electrical or mechanical needs. These resources provide for a clean source of power generation since most of them are considered to be carbon neutral.
Their omnipresence makes them a preferred choice for generation of energy the world over. Considering the case of India alone, biomass has the potential to cater to nearly 15% of the existing 1,60,000 MW power capacity in the country. However, only about 2500 MW of this potential has been exploited so far. Numerous reasons could be sighted towards this, ranging from high technological costs, availability of resources to an ever-troubling supply chain management. This article makes an attempt at collating some of the most prominent issues associated with such technologies and provides plausible solutions to most of them in order to seek further promotion of these technologies.
Roadblocks
The issues enumerated below are not geography-specific and are usually a matter of concern for most of the bioenergy related projects:
1. Large Project Costs: In India, a 1 MW gasification plant usually costs about USD 1.0-1.5 million. A combustion-based 1 MW plant would need a little more expenditure, to the tune of USD 1.0-2.0 million. An anaerobic digestion-based plant of the same capacity, on the other hand, could range anywhere upwards USD 3.0 million. Such high capital costs prove to be a big hurdle for any entrepreneur or clean-tech enthusiast to come forward and invest into these technologies.
Not only this, unlike other renewable energy technologies like solar and wind, bioenergy projects have to further bear the impact of significant operational costs owing to the feedstock, which is not available for free.
2. Technologies have Lower Efficiencies: In general, efficiencies of combustion-based systems are in the range of 20-25% and gasification-based systems are considered even poorer, with their efficiencies being in the range of a measly10-15%. The biomass resources themselves are low in energy density, and such poor system efficiencies could add a double blow to the entire project.
3. Technologies Still Lack Maturity: Poor efficiencies, as mentioned above, call for a larger quantum of resources needed to generate a unit amount of energy. Owing to this reason, investors and project developers find it hard to go for such plants on a larger scale. Moreover, the availability of only a few reliable technology and operation & maintenance service providers makes these technologies further undesirable. Gasification technology is still limited to scales lesser than 1 MW in most parts of the world. Combustion-based systems have although gone upwards of 1 MW, a lot many are now facing hurdles because of factors like unreliable resource chain, grid availability, and many others.
4. Lack of Funding Options: Owing to all the above-mentioned problems, financing agencies usually give a tougher time to such project developers as compared to what it takes to invest in other renewable energy technologies.
A large credit towards this is owing to the poor performance by the earlier start-ups who came forward in a big way to invest in these technologies just for the sake of getting tax-breaks and other associated incentives.
5. Non-Transparent Trade Markets: Usually, the bioenergy resources are obtained through forests, farms, industries and/or animal sheds. There is no standard pricing mechanism for such resources and these usually vary from vendor to vendor, even with the same resource in consideration.
6. High Risks / Low Pay-Backs: Bioenergy projects are also not so sought-after owing to high project risks which could entail from failed crops, any natural disaster, local disturbances, etc.
7. Resource Price Escalation: Unrealistic fuel price escalation too is a major cause of worry for the plant owners. Usually, an escalation of 3-5% is considered while carrying out the project’s financial modelling. However, it has been observed that in some cases, the rise has been as staggering as 15-20% per annum, forcing the plants to shut down.
Plausible Solutions
All the above mentioned issues are causing an impediment to the proliferation of bioenergy technologies. But one needs to keep into consideration the clean nature of these resources. The benefits which accompany their utilization are not only restricted to the amount of emissions saved by avoiding an equivalent generation of power through conventional fuels, but also the sound disposal of resources which are usually considered a waste and are as such of no use to anyone.
The solutions provided below are a consequence of the author’s understanding and experience in the field and present his opinions over this topic. Each issue mentioned above, has been dealt with, in the same order:
1. Large Project Costs: The project costs are to a great extent comparable to other renewable energy technologies; thus, justifying the case. Also, people tend to ignore the fact that most of these plants, if run at maximum capacity, could generate a Plant Load Factor (PLF) of 80% and above. This figure is about 2-3 times higher than what its counterparts – wind and solar energy based plants – could provide. This however, comes at a cost – higher operational costs.
