The Indian industry has seen solar power emerge as the fastest growing sunrise sector, with the government pushing through billions of dollars in tender this year. Every major Indian business group is getting involved in developing solar projects, with scores of foreign investors getting into the game as well. This has led to a huge buzz in the solar industry, even as the overall power and infrastructure remains enmeshed in slow growth and debt issues. The Chinese slowdown has led to global overcapacity in a number of industrial sectors and falling prices. Many steel, coal, power and mining firms have been disproportionately hurt from the falling prices globally. Projects are also getting stalled as investment returns are not making sense any more in an overcapacity world. As the overall industrial growth slows down, there is also less requirement for electric power. Coal India which has managed to increase production by almost 10% this year is finding it tough to sell coal, as power plants do not have enough customers.

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Now infrastructure players who have their projects stalled are looking to set up solar power plants as an alternative. Due to the huge impetus given by governments, many of these companies think that the land they might have got for developing factories and plants may be better utilized by setting up solar power plants, which also require quite a lot of land. Arcelor Mittal which is the world’s biggest steel company wants to set up a solar power plant at its 1000 hectare site in the southern state of Karnataka. The company wanted to originally build a 5-6 million ton steel plant. But with most steel players reporting huge losses due to Chinese overcapacity, this plant does not look like it will see the light of the day. Karnataka is already building a large 750 MW solar power park with the help of the central government.

Read more about Power Companies in India here.

Rattan India which has recently won a Rajasthan solar tender at the absurdly low price of INR 4.36/kWh (~6 cents/kWh), plans to use a 340 hectare land in Punjab for another solar power plant. The company says that it has not been able to get coal for this thermal power plant, which it now wants to use for solar. Every Tom, Dick and Harry wants to build a solar power plant without expertise or experience or even without knowing whom they will sell the end product ie. power. It reminds me of the 2008 period when everyone wanted to build a thermal power plant. The reason then was there is a huge growing need for power in India and selling in the open market would lead to massive returns using the then merchant power price, which could give 50% plus gross margins. Thermal power stocks used to have a P/E of 30-40x, as everyone rushed to build a thermal power station. Nowadays most of these stocks are in distress as there has been huge project delays, lack of fuel and fall in merchant power prices.

Solar power seems to be going through a similar cycle with the difference that the economics do not make sense even now, forget the future. Without a government given price and guaranteed offtake, developing solar power projects is mostly a fool’s endeavor.

The Indian government is looking to set up four gigantic solar panel power plants with hundreds of thousands of solar panels in each farm. The government is looking to replicate the Rajasthan 4000 MW power plant in other places in the country, which have very high solar power insolation. Note India is a growing country with a huge power deficit. It does not have sufficient oil and gas or other fuel resources. But solar insolation is abundant in the country, with many parts of India receiving around 2000 kWh of solar energy per year. This means 1000 watt of solar panels will give you around 2000 units of electricity per year. This is in sharp contrast to Germany which gets around 1000-1200 kWh. The country is planning on setting up the plants under the same PSU model. A consortium of public owned companies will be formed which will build these plants. BHEL will likely be the solar panel supplier, while other companies will help with financing and construction of these plants.

Read about Advantages and Disadvantages of Solar Thermal Energy .

Solar Power Plants

It is however strange that the government is committing to spend huge amounts of capex; around $4-5 billion a plant for the solar power plants, while it is using the private route to build large thermal power plants in the country. Note most of the giant thermal power plants in India have come up a cropper. Price escalation of coal has meant that these plants have turned unviable with fixed PPA tariff coming lower than the costs of generating the power. Tata Power’s Mundhra UMPP is running into huge losses while Reliance Power which bagged most of the contracts for the other giant thermal plants has refused to build the plants citing the losses. Solar power is much more certain in terms of costing as solar panel costs are the major cost component and most of the costs are upfront. Compare this to fossil fuel plants which have to depend on fuel costs for the majority of their costs. Any increase in fuel pricing can lead to huge headaches for the developer. Given the volatility in fuel pricing these days, building a fossil fuel power plant is not a very attractive option as it was in 2008.

Read on GWI 5 Reasons Why Solar Thermal is becoming Favored Choice for Hybrid Clean Fossil Fuel Power Plants.

Business Standard

The Centre has proposed four ultra mega solar power projects (UMPPs). These would be in Rajasthan (4,000 Mw), Gujarat (4,000 Mw), Kargil (2,000 Mw) and Ladakh (5,000 Mw). These would cost Rs 90,000 crore.As far as Gujarat UMPP is concerned, it will be developed with five to six companies. However, Kapoor said the Centre has yet to finalise details in this regard. Further, a lot of private developers have desired to develop 1,000 MW to 3,000 MW on their own.However, it won’t be possible as the project will be tendered, he added. According to Kapoor, transmission is a major issue for the development of Kargil and Ladakh UMPPs.

Tata Power to build Solar and Wind Capacity every year

TATA Power is one of the greatest power companies in India. The Company has an installed generation capacity of 8521 MW in India. Tata Power has presence in almost all Renewable Energy sectors in India like Solar, Wind, Hydro and thermal. Tata Power with BP Solar has a joint venture Tata BP Solar which is one of the biggest Solar Panel companies in India. Tata BP Solar is perhaps the best solar lighting provider in India given the brandname and inhouse manufacturing of solar components.It has a range of Solar Lighting Solutions based on LED and non LED lights.

The Company aims at producing 20-25% of its total generation capacity from clean renewable energy sources. It is estimated that Tata Power’s generation through wind, solar and hydro energy is almost 870 MW. Tata Power in order to meet its renewable energy requirement, plans to add 150-200 MW of wind energy and 30-50 MW of solar power in India every year.

Tata Power has been quite ambitious with its Renewable energy plans. It is one of the greatest Solar Power companies in India with a total operational capacity of 28MW. It is also not behind in Wind generation, with an installed capacity of 397 MW. The solar projects includes 25 MW Mithapur Project Gujarat, 3 MW at Mulshi Maharashtra and some rooftop solar installations. Some of its wind power projects are Samana – 50.4MW, Khandke, Maharashtra – 50.4 MW. These projects are registered under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) program of the UNFCCC. As of 31st March 2013, the total generation from the solar capacities is approximately 50 MUs and from wind projects is 796 MU’s.

Tata Power

Mr Anil Sardana, Managing Director, Tata Power said“Our solar and wind energy assets are performing well and we are committed to reducing our carbon footprint through “clean and renewable energy” generation. Our aim is to have 20-25% of our generation portfolio from clean energy.”

Most of the power plants being built in India are coal dependent, with the power providers aggressively buying up coal mines in Indonesia, Australia and South Africa to increase fuel security. In case of any global disruptions, India remains very vulnerable. However India’s policymakers are sleeping on this issue. It makes more sense to concentrate on those sources whose fuel security is high such as solar and wind power. Coal also faces the prospect of high carbon taxation as global warming becomes acute. Environmental issues related to power plants has already resulted in some being halted as local citizens agitate against the thermal plant’s negative effects on livelihoods and health. Thus companies need to come out and start investing in Renewable Energy sources such as Wind and Solar. Tata Power has surely set an example for Indian companies by having such ambitious investment plans in these clean sources.

While Tamil Nadu has India’s largest share of renewable energy mostly due to its 40% share of the installed wind energy in India, Gujarat has rapidly expanded its wind and solar energy portfolio. Its solar subsidy scheme has been massively successful and now the state accounts for almost 60% of the total solar power capacity in India. Even in wind energy, Gujarat has been attracting massive investments into both wind farms and wind equipment manufacturing. Now the state has also decided to foray into geothermal energy by building a pilot plant in the Cambay area, between the Narmada and Tapi regions. Note geothermal energy remains a poor cousin to its bigger renewable relatives wind and solar energy. While there is 10 GW of geothermal capacity installed worldwide, wind and solar energy installed 45 and 30 GW in just 2011 alone. The reason is that geothermal energy has a long gestation time and the result of drilling wells is not always successful. Gujarat plans to build a 10 GW capacity if the pilot is successful (I am skeptical of the 10 GW plan though the initiative is encouraging).

Read more about Geothermal Energy Advantages and Disadvantages.

Geothermal Energy in India a non starter till now

Geothermal Energy in India like other places in the world is moving at a snail’s pace due to project development and financing problems. Geothermal Energy in India is non existent with not a single functioning plant as of 2011. However, the potential of this energy resource is immense which can be seen as  24% of Iceland’s energy demand is being met by geothermal energy. Geothermal Energy possesses one attribute that the others do not. Its 24 hour generation capability is a massive plus, compared to the intermittent nature of Wind and Solar Energy. However long project development time and large capital investments have deterred fast growth in geothermal energy in the world. Though some countries like Iceland, Indonesia, Philippines and USA have a strong geothermal energy industry.

TOI

The state government is planning to explore the feasibility of geothermal energy “We are meeting a delegation from Norwegian government to make a beginning of this untapped resource of energy next wee,” said T Harinarayana, director, Gujarat Energy Research and Management ( GERMI).

Officials said that there is a potential to generate electricity through geothermal resources, which are available in plenty in the geothermal zone located in Cambay between Narmada and Tapi river. If the pilot project is successful, the state may plan generation of 10,000MW in a decade.

Solar Power Plants in the USA are proliferating with the falling cost of solar energy and the increase in government support through the Treasury Grant subsidy.Thousands of Solar Jobs are being created in the USA as solar installers increase their workforce to cope with the rapid surge in demand.The crash in prices of solar panels has led to increase in demand for solar system installations.Also the state Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) laws which make it mandatory for utilities to source a portion of their power from green energy sources has boosted the use of solar energy.Besides rooftop solar systems,large solar power plants are being built in the USA comprising of millions of solar panels with the help of DOE loan guarantees and 1603 Grants.Not only solar photovoltaic systems,but also solar thermal power plants which use solar heat to generate power are being built.Though some of the solar thermal power plants are now being converted to solar panel power farms due to their lower costs,still some solar thermal companies like Brightsource Energy continue to build massive solar farms.The list of solar power plants in the US is a constantly moving target but here is a list of the major solar power plants in the USA as well as some of the upcoming large solar power plants.Note this list is subjective as you can’t have a strict rule of solar system size to classify it a solar power plant.Also the huge number of solar installations makes it almost impossible to construct an exhaustive list of solar power plants.Here I am writing about the big solar power developers and their plans on developing large solar power plants.There are a number of smaller solar developers which I have not written about here.

Read about the advantages and disadvantages of large solar farms over rooftop solar installations

First Solar has more than 1 GW of Solar Farms getting DOE Loan Guarantees

While Solar Panel stocks have been getting massively hit ,First Solar has not seen some of the massive drops mainly as 3 of its large solar farms may get big DOE Loan Guarantees which will allow it to easily sail through one of the worst times in the solar panel industry.Note First Solar has 3 projects getting the DOE Loan – $680 million for the Antelope Valley Solar Ranch in Los Angeles County, $1.88 billion for the Desert Sunlight project in Riverside County and $1.93 billion in loans for the Topaz Solar project in San Luis Obispo County.

These Three solar farms will generate around 1330 MW of solar energy when completed and will make First Solar the biggest solar installer in the US.Two of  these solar panel projects have 550 MW of solar capacity making them the biggest solar panel plants in the world.

NRG Energy and Prologis with DOE Loan Guarantee and Bank of America $1.4 Billion Debt Finance

NRG Energy has been one of the largest developers of  solar energy in the USA with a number of large scale utility projects using both solar PV and solar thermal technologies.NRG Solar which is a wholly owned subsidiary of NRG Energy has almost 2000 MW of solar energy capacity being developed with almost half being constructed.NRG has aggressively bought solar panel projects from First Solar  and has also tied up withBrightsource Energy acquiring an equity interest in the 392 MW solar thermal power plant being built by the company.NRG Energy has now turned its attention to the commercial rooftop market tying up with warehouse operator Prologis and Bank of America to build 733 MW of projects spread across 28 states in the USA.The company has also got a loan guarantee of $1.2 billion from DOE which will further improve the returns from these projects.This is the largest distributed solar project in the world right now and shows a template for further such solar projects in the future by leading energy providers and large rooftop owners.

National Solar to build Twenty 20 MW farms in a single place

National Solar a developer of solar farms is shortlisting sites to build a huge 400 MW solar farm in twenty segments of 20 MW each.Note US  Solar Installers/developers are increasing as solar energy industry keeps on growing at almost a 100% growth rate.While a number of established solar developers have been acquired by upstream large solar panel companies,newer ones keep popping up.Note the cost of the project is around $3.5/watt which is the same as that being estimated by NRG Energy.The Solar System costs have declined dramatically in the last 2-3 years by around 35-40% from around $5.5-6/watt to $3.5/watt at present.With solar panel prices expected to keep declining at around 10% annually expect more such solar panel projects to be announced.

Sunpower has touted its “Oasis” power 1 MW block as a low cost LCOE solution to the solar utility market.This power block which comes with most of the BOS parts assembled saves costs in installation through standardization and scale.The company won a massive  711 AC MW contract with USA utility Edison which is one of the largest in the solar energy history.Sunpower has also  managed numerous wins in the government sector supplying solar panels to the US  Air Force,Municipal Departments

Brightsource Energy,the Solar Thermal Startup has been making huge progress getting high profile investors and managing a $1.37 billion DOE grant for its Ivanpah 392 MW Solar Thermal Power Plant.The Company has managed to get its billion dollar Ivanpah Project financed through equity investments from NRG Energy and Google.The company has also started the process of applying to build a 750 MW plant in California.

Abengoa – Abengoa is one of the most well known suppliers of Solar Thermal Equipment in the world and is a proven developer of large scale Solar Plants in Spain and USA.This Spanish giant has signed a JV with India’s largest capital equipment company BHEL to manufacture components for Solar Thermal Plants..t has managed to win a large DOE grant for constructing another large Solar Thermal Plant in the USA.

 SolarReserve is a US company which uses  integrated molten salt thermal energy storage technology in conjunction with solar power towers licensed from United Technologies Corporation (UTC).The company has got approvals to build CSP plants in Arizona and California.

 Solar Millennium – The company is one of the most aggressive players in the Solar Thermal Energy Sector.The company is in the process of building CSP plants in Africa,Europe,India and USA.This German company has won several project approvals to build CSP plants in Califronia through its JV Solar Trust with Ferrostaal Inc.It recently sold its US pipeline to Solarhybrid which is not converting all the CSP plants to solar panel farms.

You can read about solar power plants upcoming and built at Wikipedia

The importance of Clean and Renewable Energy is growing driven by the twin factors of increasing fossil fuel prices and Global Warming. Other factors contributing to the importance and growing use of Alternative Energy is national energy security as geopolitical tensions in major oil and gas countries grows by the day. Also renewable sources of energy like solar energy promote the democratization of energy production which is centralized by power utilities today. There are a number of alternative sources of energy such as solar, wind, geothermal, tidal, hydro and nuclear energy. Some people may not consider nuclear and hydro energy to be green but it is a fact that these 2 energy sources do not produce GHG emissions and cannot be classified as fossil fuels sources. Each clean energy source has its own advantages and many of the pros overlap with each other as well. However each Green Energy source has its unique benefits which define and separate it from the other clean sources. While Renewable Energy advantages over Non-Renewable can be easily be understood as:

a) National Energy Security

b) Prevention of Global Warming

c) Reducing Costs

These above advantages are general to Renewable Energy over non-Renewable forms.Below is listed the specific advantages of each of the major renewable energy sources.

Nuclear Energy Advantages

  1. Reliability – Nuclear Power is a highly reliable form of energy almost as good as other fossil fuel energy forms like coal, gas etc. Nuclear Power Plants except in drastic situations continue to run reliably for the whole day without any changes.
  2. Low Fuel Cost – Large amounts of Nuclear Energy can be produced from the fission on radioactive elements like uranium. The costs of nuclear fuel is relatively  very low compared to other energy sources like coal and gas. Also uranium prices currently are quite low making the nuclear electricity price even lower.
  3. Low Electricity Cost – The Electricity produced from Nuclear Power is quite low at around 3-5c/Kwh making it very attractive to construct hydro plants.  Nuclear  Plants also  have long lives of between 40-60 years which means that they are extremely profitable once constructed within reasonable costs.
  4. No Greenhouse Gas Emissions/Air Pollution – Nuclear electricity does not produce any GHG emissions or cause air pollution from the combustion of fossil fuels unlike coal, oil or gas.This makes them very attractive as a source of cheap, non carbon dioxide producing electricity.
  5. High Load Factor – Nuclear Power Plants have very high load factors in excess of 80%. They can generate power almost 24/7 and only require shutdown for periodic maintenance.
  6. Huge  Potential –Nuclear Energy Potential is almost infinite compared to the limited and peak features of other forms of  energy like Wind, Geothermal, Oil, Gas and others. Only Solar Energy can be said to have more potential. Note new technologies and fuels like fast breeder and thorium are still in the works which can increase the potential of Nuclear Power more.

Solar Energy Advantages

1) Environment Friendly – Solar Energy does not lead to any major mining activity, does not lead to significant GHG emissions, does not lead to health hazards like thermal power.

2) Declining Costs – Solar Costs are declining at a rapid pace and are rapidly approaching grid parity in most parts of the world. The use of semiconductor techniques ensures that the costs should continue to decline in the future as well.

3) No Fuel and Low Maintenance – Solar Energy does not require any fuel like Wind Energy and the Operation and Maintenance Costs are extremely low. This is a huge advantage in these days when gas and oil disruptions are causing energy insecurity. Libya, Russia are all examples.

4) No Pollution and Deaths – Solar Energy does not lead to pollution disasters like the BP Oil Spill and Coal Deaths which are directly related to Dirty Energy Production.

5) Almost Unlimited Potential – Solar Energy Potential is almost infinite compared to the limited and peak features of other forms of  energy like Wind, Geothermal, Oil, Gas and others. Only Nuclear Energy has potential similar to Solar Energy.

6) Size Advantages – Solar Installations can be installed in various sizes with as little as 200 Watts and as big as a 1000 MW. This is not possible for other energy forms which require a minimum large size such as Coal, Nuclear etc.

7) Quick Installation – Solar Energy can be installed very quickly.Small residential installations can be installed in as low as 3 days. This is much faster compared to other  energy sources.

8 )  Grid Independent – Solar Energy finds the most use in non-grid areas where it can be installed with batteries for energy storage. It is a much cheaper form of energy for non-grid applications than other forms. It is giving competition to Diesel Gensets being used.

Wind Energy Advantages

1) No Pollution and Global Warming Effects – Wind Turbines does not lead to pollution which is one of the biggest advantages of Wind Energy. Note there are costs associated with the equipment used to build and transport Wind Equipment but the running of Wind Energy leads to no pollution.

2) Low Costs – The Costs of Wind Energy has reached the level of Gas powered Energy and can be generated at extremely low rates of around 7-8c/KwH in favorable conditions.

3) Big Industrial Base – Wind Energy has become a mainstream source of energy and a large industrial base already exists. This allows a rapid deployment of Wind Power in most places in the world. The number of Wind Turbine Producers is increasing with a number of Asian firms entering the industry.

4) No Fuel Cost – Wind Energy does not require any fuel like most other sources of renewable energy. This is a huge advantage over other fossil fuels whose costs are increasing at a drastic  rate every year. Electricity prices are increasingly rapidly in most parts of  the world much faster than general inflation. Price shocks due to high fuel costs are a big risk with fossil fuel energy these days.

5) Offshore Advantage – The next big growth spurt in Wind Energy is coming from the offshore Wind Energy sector. Huge Wind Turbines of 5 MW and above are being built around 30-40 kms from the coasts. This has the advantage of no land usage,no noise problems and the wind is much better leading to higher load factors. The costs are currently higher but in the future are expected to come rapidly come down. USA has enough offshore wind potential to replace the whole fossil fuel electricity being consumed right now.

6) Small Wind Turbines gaining some traction – While Wind Turbines are not generally used in distributed form,it is possible to now use small wind turbines being built by a number of companies to power small establishments.

Geothermal Energy Advantages

1) Environment Friendly, and Global Warming Mitigation Effects – Geothermal Energy does not lead to any major mining activity, does not lead to significant GHG emissions, does not lead to health hazards like thermal power.

2) No Fuel Cost – Geothermal Energy does not require any fuel like most other sources of energy. This is a huge advantage over other fossil fuels whose costs are increasing at a drastic  rate every year. Electricity prices are increasingly rapidly in most parts of  the world much faster than general inflation. Price shocks due to high fuel costs are a big risk with fossil fuel energy these days.

3) Predictable, 24/7 Power -Geothermal Energy is very predictable and producers power 24 hours a day, 7 days as week. Other forms of Renewable Energy like Solar and Wind Energy are intermittent in nature. The electricity supply is much more uniform and reliable.

4) High Load Factor – The Load Factor for Solar and Wind Energy ranges from 15-40% which is quite low compared to Fossil Fuel Energy. Geothermal Energy has a load factor of almost 80% which is equal to that of Thermal Power and comparable to Nuclear Power.

4) No Pollution and Deaths- Geothermal Energy does not lead to pollution disasters like the BP Oil Spill and Coal Deaths which are directly related to Dirty Energy Production.

Hydro Energy Advantages

  1. No Fuel Cost – Hydro Energy does not require any fuel like most other sources of energy. This is a huge advantage over other fossil fuels whose costs are increasing at a drastic  rate every year. Electricity prices are increasingly rapidly in most parts of  the world much faster than general inflation. Price shocks due to high fuel costs are a big risk with fossil fuel energy these days.
  2. Low Operating Costs and little Maintenance – Operating labor cost is also usually low, as plants are automated and have few personnel on site during normal operation.
  3. Low Electricity Cost – The Electricity produced from Hydro Power is quite low making it very attractive to construct hydro plants. The payback period is estimated to be between 5-8 years for a normal hydro power plant. Hydro Plants also  have long lives of between 50-100 years which means that they are extremely profitable.
  4. No Greenhouse Gas Emissions/Air Pollution – Hydroelectricity does not produce any GHG emissions or cause air pollution from the combustion of fossil fuels unlike coal, oil or gas. This makes them very attractive as a source of cheap, non carbon dioxide producing electricity.
  5. Energy Storage – Pumped Hydro Storage is possible with most of the hydro power plants. This makes them ideal storage for wind and solar power which are intermittent in nature. Hydro Dams can be modified at low costs to allow pumped storage.
  6. Small Size Possible – Hydroelectricity can be produced in almost any size from 1 MW to 10000 MW which makes it very versatile. Small Hydro Plants are being encouraged by government as they cause less ecological affects than large hydro plants. Even micro hydro plants are possible.
  7. Reliability – Hydro Power is much more reliable than wind and solar power though less than coal and nuclear as a base load source of power. Hydroelectricity is more or less predictable much in advance though it can decrease in summer months when the water is low in the catchment areas.
  8. High Load Factor – The Load Factor for Solar and Wind Energy ranges from 15-40% which is quite low compared to Fossil Fuel Energy. Hydroelectricity on the other hand  has a load factor of almost 40-60% .
  9. Long Life – Hydro Plants  has a very long life of around 50- 100 years which is much longer than that of even Nuclear Power Plants. The long life implies that the life cycle cost of a Hydel Power Plant becomes very low in the long term.

Tidal Energy Advantages

  1. Renewable,non-Polluting and Carbon Negative – Tidal Energy is completely renewable,does not lead to any pollution of the air and does not lead to any carbon emissions like Fossil Fuels.
  2. Predictable – Tidal Wave Energy is very predictable as the Tides rise with great uniformity. Other forms of Renewable Energy like Solar and Wind Energy are intermittent in nature. The electricity supply is much more uniform and reliable in case of Tidal Power.
  3. No Fuel – Tidal Power needs Water for Generation of Electricity in its catchment area. It does not need fuel like Thermal, Gas or Oil Powered Power Stations.
  4. Low Costs – Once a Tidal Energy Power Plant starts running,its costs are extremely low. The biggest Power Plant in France run by EDF works at 1.5c/Kwh which is lower than either nuclear or coal energy which are the cheapest forms of power.
  5. Long Life – A Tidal Barrage has a very long life of around 100 years which is much longer than that of even Nuclear Power Plants. The long life implies that the life cycle cost of a Tidal Energy Power Plant becomes very low in the long term.
  6. High Energy Density – The Energy Density of Tidal Energy is much higher than that of other forms of Renewable Energy like Wind Power.
  7. High Load Factor – The Load Factor for Solar and Wind Energy ranges from 15-40% which is quite low compared to Fossil Fuel Energy. Tidal Energy has a load factor of almost 80% which is equal to that of Thermal Power.

Biomass Energy Advantages

1) Carbon Neutral– Note Biomass Energy results in no new net GHG emissions as it is part of the carbon cycle. Unlike coal and others forms of fossil fuel which have been buried millions of years ago and burning them adds to carbon in the atmosphere, responsible biomass energy generation results in no new carbon emissions or pollution.

2) Use of Waste – Biomass Energy is an Efficient Process which results in the use of mostly animal and crop waster which would be converted into carbon dioxide anyway. To use to as energy before the conversion is an important use of the millions of tons of waste that is generated by human activities.

3) Continuous Source of Power – Biomass Energy can be generated almost 24×7  unlike other forms of renewable energy like wind and solar that are intermittent in nature.

4) Large variety of Feedstock – Biomass Energy can use a large variety of feedstock such as wood pellets, rice husk, bagasse etc.

5) Low Capital Investment – The capital investment required for biomass based power plants is relatively less at $1-2/watt of biomass capacity. Note wind energy is slightly higher while solar is even higher. Biomass Energy has similar capex characteristics as  other forms of conventional energy like coal, gas, oil etc.

6) Distributed Nature – Biomass plants can be built in remote areas and used as a distributed form of power generation.

7) Can be built on small scale – Biomass plants can be built in 1 Mw sizes unlike other types of power which require much larges scale. For example nuclear energy requires a typical plants size of at least 500 MW to make it economical.

8 )  Reduces Methane which is a major GHG gas – Decomposition of organic matter releases methane. Capturing this methane yields energy while protecting the atmosphere. The animal industry and landfills produce significant amounts of methane.

9) Easy Availability – Biomass is readily available in almost all parts of the world except the desert areas where finding biomass is difficult.

10) Low Cost Resource – Biomass Energy can be produced cheaply if there is a good availability of feedstock.