Bioenergy and Rural Electrification

Kathmandu; Under Urja Khabar's weekly informative series "Urja Gyaan" featured every Friday, this week we bring to you information on bioenergy and rural electrification. Last week, in the previous edition, we covered the subject matter of "Wind Energy, Its Importance and Development Challenges."

Introduction

In the majority of developing countries, this rural electrification remains a fundamental issue. Among the reasons are distance from the main grid, infrastructure development cost, geographical heterogeneity, and the dispersed nature of small villages. Here, bioenergy and waste-to-energy technologies are emerging as technologically viable, decentralized, and sustainable alternatives.

What is Bioenergy ?

Bioenergy is energy produced from biomass sources such as agricultural residues, animal feces, firewood, grasses, and aquatic algae. Among the typical bioenergy technologies are:

• Biogas digesters
• Biomass gasifiers
• Improved cookstoves
• Bioethanol and biodiesel

How is Energy Derived from Organic Waste ?

With the assistance of advanced technologies, organic or biodegradable waste collected in municipalities, crop residues, and other biological wastages can be produced to electricity or heat. There are mostly three technologies used for this purpose:

• Combustion
• Anaerobic digestion
• Pyrolysis and gasification

Benefits of Rural Electrification with Bioenergy

Utilization of Locally Available Resources: Crop residue and animal dung are easily available in rural areas. It reduces transportation costs and decreases the usage of fossil fuels.

Decentralized Energy Generation: Appropriate for areas that are off-grid or reliant on mini-grids. Electrification can be done without expanding the central grid.

Clean and Environmentally Sustainable: It has extremely low greenhouse gas emissions, improves waste management, and sanitation.

Employment and Livelihoods: Promotes local entrepreneurship in energy services, agriculture, and waste management. It creates employment in construction, operation, and maintenance.

What are the Challenges?

• Inability to store and maintain a regular supply of raw material for bioenergy.
• Lack of technical competence and maintenance capability.
• Large setup costs in the initial phase.
• Inept or non-existent policy and regulation that could hinder production and utilization.

How to Counter These Challenges ?

• Systems for the collection and storage of raw material can be arranged at the local level to provide for them.
• Capacity building and training needs to be provided at the local level.
• Projects need to be initiated on micro-financing, subsidies, or public-private partnership (PPP) modes.
• Energy-saving and waste-management-friendly policies need to be promoted.

Conclusion
Bioenergy is presently used for electricity and heat in Nepal, India, and most other countries across the world. Energy and bioenergy technology have become a key contributor to rural electrification. The technologies guarantee the sustainable use of bioenergy, enhance the alleviation of poverty, provide clean energy to rural communities, and contribute to proper waste management.