1electricity from biomass for rural India - techno-economic analysis

Small-scale decentralized power generation at the village level using locally available biomass is a possible solution for the energy crisis in rural India. In this paper, we develop an integrated techno-economic model for biomass based power generation and apply it to a prototypical Indian village. We examine whether biomass has the potential to augment the rural electricity supply in a cost-effective manner. The biomass of interest in this paper is rice straw and husk, sugarcane residues and coconut shells. The gasification-combustion cycle is simulated using Advanced System for Process Engineering (ASPEN) to obtain performance of above biomass fuels. This is used to calculate the cost of electricity and the standard financial parameters for different plant capacity options. The analysis suggests that biomass based power has the potential to supplement rural electricity supply in a cost-effective manner. The cost of electricity from biomass is cheaper than the cost from other sources of renewable energy. Though this cost is more than the currently subsidized electricity supplied by the state electricity boards, biomass is definitely a viable option in the remote, unelectrified villages. Even in the partially electrified villages, biomass can supply power much more regularly as against the highly erratic supply by the state electricity board.