Sistema.bio, a Mexico-based social enterprise specializing in new-generation biogas technology, on Monday, unveiled the world’s largest manufacturing facility for biogas plants at Chakan in Pune. Sistema.bio, headquartered in Mexico City, was founded in 2010 by Alex Eaton and Camilo Pages.
The India facility has an annual production capacity of 1,00,000 prefabricated biogas plants. Sistema’s bio-digesters were easier to install, lasted longer and were around 20% cheaper than existing civil construction-based biogas plants, Alex Eaton, CEO and co-founder, Sistema said. He said that existing technologies were designed for industrial agriculture and did not meet the needs of small farmers.
Sistema.bio is one of the three biogas companies to receive approval from the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) to participate in the National Bioenergy program. An allocation of `100 crore has been made for the programme. Subsidies were earlier limited to government programmes. Private companies have been permitted to participate in biogas programmes, and similar subsidies have been extended for installing biogas plants based on new technologies.
India is the largest market in the world for biogas plants with close to five million plants installed but 50% of these were not operational, Eaton said. Many of their installations were replacing these old plants.
Sistema is targeting both small farm holders and large dairies and food companies, Piyush Sohani, country director, Sistema said. The company plans to install 40,000 biogas units in FY23 in the country and doubling it next year. Small farm holders receive a subsidy of around `15,000 for installing biogas plants, which goes directly into the accounts of the farmers, Sohani said.
The gas powers a two-burner cooking stove and generates fertilizers that replace 70-80% of chemical fertilisers. In case of the large installations by private dairies and cooperatives, the gas is used to generate electricity.
The plant size could meet the needs of farmers who had two to three cows to dairy cooperatives with 175 cows. According to Eaton, 95% of the farmers owned less than 10 cows.
The Tata Trusts took the initiative to bring Sistema to India and continues to work with the company It has to date installed 50,000 units in 21 states. It has tie-ups with the National Dairy Development Board, Amul, Sumul, food and beverage company, Nestle, Lactalis, CSR projects of Infosys Foundation and Shell Foundation. Sistema has so far raised two series of funds totalling $ 27 million with plans to raise $ 100 million in the next couple of years.
Sistema has invested `15 crore in the plant and capacity could be doubled here with automation. Apart from the Indian market, this plant will be exported to Asia Pacific and Africa. Currently, exports contribute around 20% to sales.
The Sistema.bio biogas plant uses industrial-grade LLDPE (Linear Low-Density Polyethylene) geomembrane material, which has a life of more than 15 years and can be easily transported to remote areas and assembled in a day.