Two European cos keen to explore cow dung-based power in India

A Polish company in collaboration with a stirling engine maker from Holland is exploring opportunities in India for a compact and direct combustion based electric generation unit using cow dung.

India already uses this to feed biomass generators, but biogas-based plants have not gained much momentum in the country as yet.

"The technology we are trying in India offers maintenance-free installation and can generate peak power of 1 KW or 1.8 KW per hour, with cow dung or any other biomass," Globe Solutions Vice-Chairman Marcin Wilczynski said on Tuesday, during an interactive session at the Bharat Chamber of Commerce here.

He said it uses stirling engines from Holland's Microgen Engine Corporation for direct combustion, which is safer and easy to operate.

These units can be either standalone or grid connected, Wilczynski said, adding, regulatory factors like net metering will be the key to large-scale success.

Bharat Chamber president Sitaram Sharma said among the European countries, Denmark was aiming to produce 30 per cent of power from cow dung.

Meanwhile, Rajya Sabha MP Manish Gupta hailed the initiative and said the same technology could be of good use in power-deficit states.

He, however, raised some apprehension about the stirling engines' efficiency in India compared to the colder environment in European nations.

Globe Solutions did not reveal the price of the units in India.