Global Biofuel Alliance to be launched in Goa

A Global Biofuels Alliance is set to be announced on July 22 during the G20 Clean Energy Ministerial in Goa. The alliance aims to enhance global collaboration and cooperation for the adoption of biofuels and identify best practices for their development and deployment. The alliance is being launched under the G20 Presidency of India with support from Brazil and the US. India has also advanced its deadline for achieving 20% ethanol blending from 2030 to 2025. The government is also considering a policy on 1% blended aviation fuel based on previous experience.

Hardeep Singh Puri, Union minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas and Housing and Urban Affairs said, that GBA would be signed soon and described this as a “landmark”.

Based on the experience of achieving 10% ethanol blending, five months in advance of the goal, the Centre has decided the advance the deadline for achieving 20% ethanol blending (E20) from 2030 to 2025, Puri said explaining that inhibitions associated with use of blended fuels in automobiles have been resolved now. Around 1350 petrol pumps in the country are already selling E20 fuel, he said. The government is also considering a policy on 1% blended aviation fuel based on their experience with using 1% indigenous sustainable aviation fuel for a Pune to Delhi flight in May, the minister added.

India in 2006, had a goal of achieving 5% ethanol blending but by 2014, had managed to achieve only 1.4% ethanol blending.

“In 2014 the government set a target of 10% blending by 2022 and a 20% blending 2030. We managed to achieve 10% blending 5 months ahead of schedule in 2022 and brought forward the target of 2030 to 2025 and I am very happy to say that we have already got 1350 petrol pumps in the country that are already selling E20 fuel in the country. It’s moving very fast,” Puri said.

Puri explained that biofuels could also cut import bills significantly . “We are very clear that with economy growing your energy consumption will increase. Global energy growth is at 1% but ours is three times of that. Roughly about a 100 million barrels of petrol crude oil gets consumed in a year. It’s a very price sensitive commodity. ”

India consumes roughly 5 million barrels a day. “Our consumption is going up. The oil marketing companies have paid the distillers more than ₹82000 crore in the last eight years (for ethanol) enabling timely payment to our farmers,” Puri said adding that biofuel production can support the agriculture sector.

“In this context, the importance of Biofuels as a sustainable and cleaner choice cannot be overlooked. Our efforts to build domestic capabilities over the last decade has augmented India’s energy security and also translated into a for-ex savings of over Rs.54,000 crores, over the last nine years,” he added.

The minister added that India is looking to move up from using molasses and sugar cane to using farm waste (including stubble) to produce ethanol.

Puri spoke about the recent inauguration of a second-generation ethanol plant in Panipat that produces ethanol from agricultural residue. “Agricultural residue (stubble) contributes to choking air pollution in Delhi NCR every year. We are now looking at third generation ethanol plants…India will account for 25% of global demand growth in biofuels until 2040. Everyday 60 million citizens go to the petrol pump to fill up.”

He pointed out that there is a lot of scope for growth. “Today when Brazil, US and India sign up to GBA, it (the alliance) will constitute 85% of global production of ethanol of which US produces 55%; Brazil produces 27%; and India produces 3%. India has the maximum potential and is fastest growing.” It’s taken a significant change in attitudes too, to achieve this, the minister said. Originally, he added, a 10% blending target looked ambitious. “But, we are losing our mental block about 20% ethanol blending. Automakers have told us that the same car engine will take up to 20% blending. Recently, I welcomed a flight from Pune to Delhi that used 1% blended sustainable aviation fuel. If you make 1% blended aviation fuel mandatory as part of policy you will require 140 million litres of ethanol fuel. ”