Bioenergy board to table compressed biogas policy before Karnataka government for approval

By Bosky Khanna

The Karnataka State Bioenergy Development Board (KSBDB) is working on tabling a compressed biogas policy before the State Government for approval. The initiative could find place in the 2026-27 state budget.

Experts say the department took a cue from Indian Institute of Science (IISc) research on using agricultural residue to generate biogas as an alternative fuel. This comes at a time when the Central and State governments are also looking at using agricultural and grain-based residue for blending in fuels instead of sugarcane residue.

The department is going through policy documents of other states that have introduced the idea, including Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh, to pick the best and improve it further. Karnataka presently blends 20 per cent ethanol in petrol and diesel.

KSBDB is also looking to finalise its ethanol blending policy. As there is much scope for grain-based ethanol blending, alternatives like broken wheat, broken rice, rice residue, maize, jowar and other grains can be used, as certified by the Food Corporation of India.

Dayananda GN, project consultant of KSBDB, said there is a rise in grain-based and agricultural residue. “If all goes well, the policy will be finalised soon and be part of the 2026-27 state budget. Collection, aggregation and transportation challenges need to be addressed. We will suggest to the state government for production-linked incentive scheme to be implemented,” official sources from KSBDB told TNIE.

Prof S Dasappa, Chair of the Interdisciplinary Centre for Energy Research and Faculty at the Centre for Sustainable Technologies, IISc, said, “The policies are now falling in place and challenges are being ironed out. So far, Karnataka has not been paying attention because of its thrust on renewable energy resources. Using agricultural residues is a good solution.”

This article has been republished from The New Indian Express.