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Sanzida Islam |
| Biogas technology has already started performing well on a large scale in several Asian countries. Production of biogas through anaerobic digestion is now rolling out across Asia. This process is a relatively simple carbon reducing technology that can be implemented at commercial, village and household scales. It allows for the controlled management of large amounts of animal dung and the safe production of gas for cooking, lighting or power generation. In addition, as a by product, it provides an extremely valuable agricultural fertilizer. The use of household biogas is most widespread in Asia in China, over 15 million households are using biogas and successful programs have been established in Nepal and Vietnam. The international seminar on biogas technology, held in Beijing, China illustrated the renewed interest shown in the application of anaerobic digestion in this part of the world. The Netherlands Development Organization (SNV) is playing an important role in this scaling up-biogas programs in Asia. Now lets take a look at some of these successes and recent up-scaling initiatives. China China's Ministry of Agriculture started to introduce various technologies into rural areas in 2000. They also featured some new policies such as Ecological Homeland and Plan to Enrich People. A domestic biogas plant forms the base, combined with other transformations that are dependent on local conditions. This includes pig farming as well as the construction of toilets, kitchens, solar heated greenhouses, orchards and cisterns. Investment subsidies for biogas plants from the central government depend on the level of regional economic development. According to Wang Jiuchen, the director of Energy Ecology Division, Department of Science and education of the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture, they aim to increase the number of households using biogas, from 15 to 27 million by 2010, which will account for over 10% of all rural households. By the end of 2005, these were 2,492 medium and large scale biogas digesters in livestock and poultry farms, while 137,000 biogas tanks had been constructed for the pacification of household wastewater. In Sichuan province alone 2.58 million domestic biogas pants had been constructed in 2005. This number will be increased to 5 million by the end of 2010 the price per system is between 1200 and 1500 RMB (120-150), while the government subsidy ranges from 800 to 1000 RMB (80-100). In under to help this growth, the renewable energy law of the peoples Republic of China came into force on January 2006, following its approval in 2005. This law establishes systems to support the development of renewable energy resources market fostering and protection, resource exploitation and planning, technical and industrial support, price support and cost sharing, and financial support and economic stimulation. To promote the use of biogas, various steps are being taken to industrialize the contraction of biogas plants. One example is the so-called Puxin Biogas plant developed by Shenzhun Puxin science and technology co. ltd. This plant is equipped with a glass-fiber reinforced plastic gasholder to shorten the construction period and to avoid possible gas leakages through brick or concrete domes. However the Puxin Plant is more expensive than conventional plants, meaning that it will mainly be used when the quality of the builders who would be employed to make a traditional masonry or concrete dome gastight cannot be guaranteed. Another company, the Anhui Chizhou Xingye Natural Energy Development Co. Ltd. In Anhui Province, it is producing a prefabricated fiberglass biogas plant in six pieces. It began production in 2002 and now claims to have a manufacturing capacity of 35,000 units per year. The set ail cost of this Anhui Plant is low, about 135, while an additional 45 is required for the installation of the plant taking normally two days the lifetime of an Anhui Plant constantly in contact with biogases still to be established. India In India, the Ministry of Non-Conventional Energy Sources (MNES) continues to implement the National Biogas and Manure Management Program (NBMMMP) through state nodal departments and agencies, the Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) and a number of NGOs. Several gas-root level voluntary agencies and self employed trained workers are also being involved by these agencies in promoting and constructing biogas plants as well as providing maintenance services MNES provides financial assistance for the construction and maintenance of Biogas plants in the country training and awareness creation, technical centers, and service charges or salary support are also being provided by them. During the financial yea 2004-05 the regional offices of the ministry have conducted inspections of 3825 biogas plants installed over the last three years out of these, 93% were found to be functional. Biogas production can also be installed in combination with sanitation. Public toilets incorporating biogas units are particularly suitable for pre urban areas and small towns in India where the supply of cooking gas is inadequate and waste water treatment is unaffordable for the local authorities. According to Dr. P.K. Jha from Sulabh International Social Service Organization, his organization has contracted about 1.2 million household toilets and more than 6000 community toilets complexes. Yet only about 150of these country complexes (2.5%) included biogas digester. This is mainly because the local bodies that provide funding are normally not aware of the importance of biogas systems and opt out of the habit for a septic tank system. Biogas system can become a part of decentralized waste water treatment, as demonstrated by the community based sanitation project in Ullalu, an urban slum, in Bangladesh, India Ms Susmita Sinha from the Bremen Overseas Research and Development Agency (BORDA) explained that, hot water for bathing and lighting of the toilet complexes at night are the two major improvements to existing facilities. Limitation for community based sanitation installations are lack of skilled labor for construction, non availability of pre-fabricated units and complex maintenance for the operation of this units. The potential for increasing the deployment of this system is yet to be established. Nepal's Biogas Support Program Despite the continuing insecurity in Nepal caused by clashes between the government and Maoist insurgents, Nepal's Biogas Support Program (BSP) still succeeds in delivering quality biogas plant, though the numbers are lower than planned. In the Nepalese fiscal year 2005-06, 17,803 domestic biogas were installed. The involvement of the private sector is one of the main factors for this success. Nepal highlighted the strengths and weaknesses of the private sectors involvement in BSP, stating that 62 biogas construction companies have been established, along with 15 workshops for the manufacturing of Biogas appliances and about 140 micro finance institutes involved in biogas lending in rural areas. The investor of the private sector has not only managed to increase the biogas market, but has also maintained the quality standards established by the BSP. The BSP has convincingly demonstrated that biogas technology positively affects the lives of farmers, especially women and children, in rural areas. The social and environmental conditions of about 800,000 people have been improved, making the BSP a good example of successfully scaled up technology. In recognition of the success of the Nepal Biogas Program, BSP Nepal, the independent Nepali NGO originating from the SNV'S program office, received the prestigious Ashden award for its promotion of sustainable development. The prize of £30,000 (......44,000) will be used to experiment with new types of biogas plant at high altitudes in the Himalaya. Biogas Project in Vietnam Vietnam has huge market potential for domestic biogas. The husbandry sector of the country is vibrant, expanding and for the large part managed in family farms. Farmers and government are keen to reduce the environmental load of the sector, and embrace solutions such as biogas plants. Alternatives to inefficient conventional domestic fuel sources are welcomed, as are opportunities to improve the nutrient managements of the fields with the rural population that is accessible and well educated, awareness travels fast. Out of the technical potential of 2 million installations an active demand of one million domestic biogas plant seems realistic estimate. At the recent conference in Beijing, Mr. F. Ter Heegde from SNV delivered a presentation on the biogas project (BP) in Vietnam. Vietnamese and Netherlands governments signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for the implementation of the biogas project in January 2003. They also approved a domestic biogas dissemination project in 10 of Vietnam's 64 provinces. This project combined Vietnam's technical knowledge on plant design and construction with SNV's experience with large scale dissemination of domestic biogas. The Netherlands’ Directorate General for International Co-operation (DGIS) in supporting the project financially with an initial grant of US$ 2 million. The combination has so far proved successful at an early stage the project expanded to two additional provinces and increased its quota from 10,000 to 12,000 biogas plants. The project reached its goal in six months ahead of schedule. In anticipation of a second phase, the Netherlands has agreed to increase its grant to fund an additional 6000 installation, thus bringing the project target to 18,000 biogas plants. Encouraged by these results, the Vietnamese Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD/DA) and SNV agreed on the joint development of a second nation wide phase for the biogas program. This phase aims to support construction of 180,000 domestic biogas plants in 58 provinces of Vietnam over a period of 5 years. It seeks to ignite a lasting market and consumer demand for domestic biogas plants and to encourage high quality services to meet this demand. The total investment available for the program is around 66 million dollars. The proposed financing scheme includes private investment contributions by the beneficiary investment credit and investment subsidies, development and government loan combined with CDM revenue, and an ODA grant. Scaling Up- Asia Biogas Program After contributing to the remarkable achievements in Nepal and getting proper feed back from Vietnam, the Board of Director of SNV decided to launch an initiative for increasing the biogas market in Asia. The main objective of SNV's biogas activities is to support the long term development of sustainable national programs for the promotion of domestic biogas in a number of developing countries. A first screening of countries is made on the basis of pre-conditions for large scale dissemination of biogas plants. It the major preconditions are met, SNV undertakes fact finding missions and feasibility studies in order to make a well founded ‘go-no go’ decision for intervention. These missions and studies include comprehensive context and multi- stake holder analysis. In case of 'go' decision, a detained proposal for a national program including out put targets, estimated expenditures and proposed financing is formulated in co-operation with the different partners. SNV aims to involve a maximum of organizational and institutional capacities, already available in the country and to strengthen these capacities rather than keep the implementation of activities in its own hands. Through the Asia Biogas program SNV is trying to reach about 210,000 households through installation of a same number of biogas plants, covering about 1.3 million people, in selected countries in Asia. Several potential problems need to be avoided however if the program is to be a success. These have been identified as the potential lack of product reliability, lack of appropriate credit facilities, lack of willingness among suppliers to co-operate and to compete, lack of organizational sustainability, lack of financial sustainability, unsuitability of CDM for national biogas programs and decreasing availability of animal dung. National Domestic Biogas and Manure Program in Bangladesh So far, the Bangladesh Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (BCSIR) and the Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) have been the main actors in the dissemination of biogas plants. In total, close to 24,000 domestic biogas plants of different designs have been installed throughout the country. The fixed dome model has become the most popular design. Yet due to expiration of projects, the instillation of biogas plants has come an almost complete standstill since June 2004. Only Grameen Shakti continues to install biogas plants. SNV conducted a study into the feasibility of a national program for domestic biogas in Bangladesh, concluding that such a program would be feasible as Bangladesh has already a rich history of domestic biogas and has necessary organizational and institutional capacities. In addition, the technical potential is at least one million units and the financial analysis of an average plant is positive. As a actual price of non-renewable biomass replaced by biogas varies greatly, an effective micro credit facility however will be required. Finally, there is a clear will and interest among stakeholders to be engaged in a national biogas program. In July 2005, an implementing partner was chosen in close co-operation with all stake holders the Infrastructure Development Company Ltd. (IDCOL) under the biogas program a total of 36,450 plants are targeted to be installed between 2006-2009. Similarly construction of high quality plants will be ensured by enforcing parameters of quality standard and quality control system. To ensure proper functioning of the plant guarantees on plants and maintenance services will be provided for 3 years and training on operation and maintenance will be provided to each user. To optimize the use of biogas regular applied research and development activities will be carried out. Staff of the partner organizations will receive training to enable them to manage, operate and maintain the installed biogas plants effectively and efficiently. Similarly proper utilization of bio-slurry will be given high emphasis. IDCOL will implement the program by establishing a biogas program office with the involvement of several capable partners. These partners could be biogas plant installers, finance institutions NGO's Governmental departments and private consultants. Bio-digester Support Program in Cambodia Compared with Bangladesh, the history of biogas in Cambodia is rather limited about 400 low cost plastic tube digesters have been installed by various organizations such as Cel-Agrid of the University of tropical agriculture, the Cambodian Rural Development Team (CRDT) and the FAO-Tele food program. A recent survey by GERES Cambodia among 55 biogas farmers in the provinces of Kanpong Cham, Takeo and Kandal showed that about half of them (26 system) were not in operation. The average lifetime of a plastic tube digester was found to be only around two years, with proper fencing and roofing being identified as factors that may improve the durability of such system. In January 2005, a study on the feasibility of a bio-digester support program in Cambodia was concluded positively. It was decided to focus first on six of Cambodia's 24 provinces. The technical potential in these six provinces was conservatively estimated to be over 220,000 units. The target for the numbers of biogas plants to be constructed between 2006-2009 is 17,500. Targeted households are those keeping live-stocks and producing 20-100 kg per day. In addition the program will hope to speed up the development of a commercially viable and market oriented biogas sector. Conclusion New opportunities are opening up for the scaling up and market development of domestic level biogas project in Asia. Despite the barriers and risks, the flow of biogas technology across. Asia may explore alternative methods that ensure the availability of renewable energy matters. And this can increase the potential of SNV and CDM to carry on the commercial development of domestic biogas. The present success of biogas technology in Asia proved that energy from renewable source can supplement the traditional plants properly. Courtesy-Renewable Energy World |
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