Biogas Set to Spark Rural Energy Revolution in India
Biogas is emerging as a transformative rural energy solution in India, with clean fuel generation, waste management and farmer livelihoods at the core of its transition from niche technology to mainstream rural infrastructure. Industry experts and energy leaders highlight that biogas — including compressed bio-gas (CBG) — is not just an alternative fuel but a rural economic driver, climate solution and energy independence enabler.
According to leadership from the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), biogas is being integrated into India’s dairy ecosystem by utilising cattle dung as a feedstock across household, community and cooperative scales. The NDDB’s Manure Management Initiative promotes scientific dung collection and digester deployment, turning dairy waste into clean fuel and bio-slurry organic fertiliser, while creating supplementary income streams for farmers.
NDDB’s efforts span **small household digesters, cooperative-run plants and commercial **Bio-CNG/CBG units under national programmes like SATAT and GOBARdhan, linking renewable energy with existing milk supply chains to boost rural energy access and income.
Biogas systems also align with India’s broader clean energy goals. Government leadership underscores biogas as essential to the country’s clean energy transition, with potential to strengthen energy security, boost waste management, and generate rural employment. Village-level biogas promotes waste conversion into usable energy, contributes to circular bio-economy outcomes, and supports cleaner cooking and local power needs.
Beyond household use, biogas and CBG have growing applications in transportation, rural micro-grids and industrial fuel substitution, reducing dependence on fossil fuels like LPG and diesel and facilitating decentralised energy access. Considerable biogas scale-up could cut greenhouse gas emissions, enhance soil health through organic fertiliser, and create new rural enterprise models that link energy, agriculture and carbon markets.
To realise this revolution, experts stress the need for policy coherence across agriculture, energy and rural development, innovative financing and community-owned energy ventures, and technology-enabled traceability to unlock carbon revenues and broader participation. With India’s vast biomass and cattle population, biogas is positioned as a strategic rural energy pillar capable of driving inclusive growth and sustainability at scale.
Source : Dairynews7x7 Dec 29th 2025 Read full story here