Sweet new source of renewable energy in India

Sugar mills are proving to be one of the best potential sources of renewable energy in India.

A new study from New Delhi-based NGO Centre for Science and Environment shows that sugar mills and windmills both produce about 2 GW of energy, but sugar mills do it at half the cost.

The biomass power from sugar mills comes from bagasse, a waste product of sugarcane cultivation. But the International Energy Agency says there's the potential to generate 5.1 GW through cogeneration at sugar mills, the report said.

Cogeneration is even generating more revenue for sugar mills than sugar, as the price of sugar has recently plummeted, according to the Economic Times newspaper. That's following sky-high sugar prices that delayed the implementation of the country's ethanol mandate (see India to delay October's ethanol mandate).

The biggest holdup is that India doesn't have the policy framework to encourage cogeneration at sugar mills, as feed-in tariffs vary widely from state to state. Tamil Nadu offers a Rs 7 per unit ($0.147) tariff, while Uttar Pradesh pays Rs 3 ($0.063), according to the newspaper.

The report said improvements to cogeneration technology could increase potential energy generation to 10 GW, which could help close India's shortfall. 

India's power grid can be intermittent and insufficient. It is estimated to have a 15 percent to 17 percent energy shortfall during peak demand (see India to remove cap on wind incentives).   

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