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Ensuring Sustainability of Methane Powered Energy Services Hub: A DA Group Learning
Cattle comprise one of the major components of India’s farm-based economy. Since the Vedic age, Indian society has been following ‘Gau-Sanskriti’, a ‘culture based on cow’, which encapsulates some or the other sustainability component. As per the available statistics, Bundelkhand has 1100 cattle per 1000 human beings; unfortunately, only 58% of the cattle are milk producing. The region also has a fodder-based economy, which is now languishing due to poor productivity of land, perennial water scarcity, depleting groundwater and poor reliability of energy. Bundelkhand region, bridging the border areas of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, is one of the most backward regions in India and rates very low on almost all development indicators. Like any other part of India, Bundelkhand also has several traditional gaushalas. Most of them are registered under either the UP Gauseva Ayog or the MP Gauseva Ayog. Apart from local religious donations and necessary help (mostly financial) from the Gausheva Ayog, there is hardly any continuous revenue source. Generally, these cost centres (gaushalas) act as old age homes for non-productive / scrub cattle. Keeping aside the financial barrier, these Gaushalas are generally suffering from several socio-political problems, which make their operations untenable, especially in the arena of industrial economy. In the last two years, the energy team of Development Alternatives (DA) has been trying to convert three gaushalas into profit centres from their present status as cost centres. This initiative was sponsored partly by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) under their Methane to Market programme. So far, the team has successfully commissioned three biogas-based power plants to demonstrate the concept (as shown in the following diagram) Origin This simple idea originated during my Jabalpur (MP) visit, when I saw a 1000 plus milch cattle-based commercial dairy farm using all types of equipments and facilities, driven by methane-powered captive plants. This not only reduces their overhead costs but also reduces their dependency on many other external parameters, including energy needs, health and hygiene, fodder supply, market competitiveness (through their USP ‘organic milk’), better access to natural resources and obviously a social recognition of maintaining an environmentally sound process. Opportunity After realising the multiplication possibility in a similar commercial setup, we discussed the bundling possibility of such a model with the technology supplier (M/S Shreyans Energy Pvt. Ltd, Jabalpur, MP). Although there is a huge latent (but upcoming) market demand from commercial players, we also felt the need to demonstrate techno-commercial viability to ensure mass-scale adoption of this institutional model. Execution The core team then visited
several Gaushalas and selected three Gaushalas for the
pilot testing. Except for the basic mode of functioning, all thee
gaushalas vary from each other in their size, management style,
energy demand, financial capacity, resource availability/scarcity and
degree of their commitment towards social development. Diverse
situations taught us a lot about the various aspects of this model.
In the last two years, the team has commissioned three methane-powered power plants and linked them with the various necessary energy driven equipments (like water pumps, fodder grinding/chopping, flour mills, battery charging stations, sprinklers, spice grinding machines) to demonstrate the economic viability of the proposed Gaushala model. The entire execution was planned through the participatory planning process, where the Gaushala management groups and other stakeholders (e.g., Government line department, local farmer’s groups, SHGs, gaushala workers) took an active role. Till date, the partners have contributed over Rs 45 Lakhs (in cash/kind) and we have managed to capture over 30,000 cubic meters of methane and generated approximately 8,000 kilowatt hours of green energy. Learning The DA group, especially the project team, dealt with several field and management issues while implementing this model on the ground. Along with the field related challenges, which basically strengthen and/or reorganise the management approach and offer vast professional and organisational experiences, the DA group has learned the importance of the following parameters: • Communication: Both formal and informal communication with all the possible stakeholders since the inception of the project helped us to share responsibility and optimally manage our resources. The impact of communication sharing helped us to reduce our direct monitoring and other overall costs during implementation. • Leveraging Finance: Financial leveraging was well planned and recorded right from the beginning. Approximately 1:1 resource sharing helped us establish a joint ownership of the model. After investing our time and resources, we were not able to secure any Central Financial Assistance (CFA), which could have helped us to try out a few other associated techno-economic models. • Management Issues: All gaushalas generally change their management body once in a year. With the change in leadership, the pace and outlook of the project undergoes numerous alterations, resulting in hurdles and blockades. • Market Linkages: Establishing market linkages was another hurdle ahead of the team. The adoption rate of new products and services (like vermi composts, spices, organic vegetables, energy services, domestic biogas) by the targeted beneficiaries was much slower than anticipated. Additional resources could have speeded up or eliminated these supporting activities. • PLF: Energy utilisation (on a day-to a day basis) for productive purposes remains a challenge. Low Plant Load Factor (PLF) due to many direct/indirect reasons reduces profit realisation and, thus, the willingness towards developing/maintaining the integrated development model. Though these three gaushalas under DA’s pilot initiative will continue to enjoy their financial returns for a long time, we have to re-sharpen our tools and develop the next level of strategy to ensure its mass level adoption. q
Manoj Mahata.
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