A roadmap towards self-reliance in the energy space

As India imports more than 85 per cent of its crude requirements, promoting alternative fuels such as bioethanol, biodiesel, compressed bio gas (CBG), compressed natural gas (CNG) and piped natural gas (PNG) is a critical mission. Earlier this year, the Cabinet approved a policy related to ethanol production from sugarcane juice and syrup to accelerate the ethanol-blended petrol programme.

For the second time this year, the Central Government advanced its target to achieve 20 per cent ethanol blending to 2023 from 2025 as compared to 2030 originally. The Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Dharmendra Pradhan, approved the supply of used cooking oil-based blended biodiesel. Last year, the Reserve Bank of India supported such initiatives and included installation of CBG plants under priority-sector lending.

The city gas distribution (CGD) network uses cleaner alternative fuels, such as CNG in the transport segment and PNG in the domestic, industrial, and commercial segments.

The number of geographical areas (GAs) of CGD increased from about 35 in 2007 to about 228 in 2019; with about 60 per cent being awarded in the last two rounds of 2018 and 2019. Another round of more than 50 GAs will be launched in the next 2-3 months.