Gentle Reminder for Today's ABM Townhall: State of Bioenergy

Dear Friends,

I am excited to host the upcoming ABM Townhall Panel, “State of Bioenergy” tonight (RSVP Link for ABM Members to join us Live)

To double-click on why this space is exciting, consider this fascinating snippet of data (hat tip: Jayant Mundhra)

American Imports of Used Cooking Oil from China increased 16X in the last four years. This naturally angered US soybean farmers, who have benefited so far from the biofuel wave.

American biofuel industry’s dilemma (cheaper raw feedstock vs better prices for soybean farmers) could very well augur the scaling challenges in India’s nascent bioenergy sector. Or who knows? India could chart out a whole new path, in the post-trumpian tariff world.

Used cooking oil plays an important role in biofuel production, specifically in the creation of biodiesel. Used cooking oil is a type of waste oil that can be transformed into biodiesel through a chemical process called transesterification. In this process, the oil is mixed with an alcohol (typically methanol) and a catalyst to break down the oil into fatty acid methyl esters (FAME), which is the primary component of biodiesel

These are heady times for the Indian bioenergy sector, riding on Indian Government’s mandate for 500 GW of renewable energy by 2030. CBG players like Gruner Renewable energy have seen their revenues jump 40X; During the Ethanol Supply Year (ESY) of 2013-2014, ethanol was mixed with gasoline at a rate of 1.53%. By the Ethanol Supply Year of 2021-2022, this blend percentage had increased to 10.02%

"As per an Indian government estimate from October 2024, at 201.45 GW, 46.3% of India’s energy requirements are met from renewable sources. In this mix, solar and wind energy have the highest share, at 90.76 GW and 47.36 GW, respectively. "

How would Indian bioenergy sector’s scaling trajectory play out in the near future? Can bioenergy ride the scaling wave amidst ongoing fodder crisis in India? India has approximately 1,108TWh of biogas potential, according to an analysis conducted by World Biogas Association. What is the potential for biohydrogen in India? What are its scaling levers?

Can biogas which has been waiting in the wings for several years (folks with grey hair might remember India’s experiments with pongamia)kick off finally?

To explore these questions and more, I am excited to host an ABM Townhall Panel: State of Bioenergy with Ashwin Save, Founder and COO, Biofuel Circle; Mateen Abdul, CEO and Co-Founder, Grassroots Energy, Vimal Panjwani, Founder and CEO, Agrivijay.

P.S. This is an ABM Members-only Event: ABM Members can RSVP here to join us LIVE.

Cheers

Venky