Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) is planning to set up more than 50 compressed biogas (CBG) plants in the next two years at a cost of over ₹5,000 crore, according to two oil and gas industry executives aware of the development.
At RIL's annual general meeting last August, chairman Mukesh Ambani had announced plans to set up 100 CBG plants in five years. CBG is a green fuel produced from waste or biomass sources. It has properties similar to compressed natural gas (CNG) and can be used for automotive, industrial and commercial uses.
«RIL has tendered out over 50 compressed biogas plants to be set up in the next two years. It will shortly be floating a tender for the remaining plants,» said one of the executives. «The tenders have been given out for technology as well as engineering, procurement and construction.»
The retail to oil refining conglomerate has also revised the target on the number of CBG plants to 106 from 100, this person added.
RIL did not respond to an email sent on February 19 seeking comment.
Each plant, the people said, would have a feedstock processing capacity of 250-500 tonnes a day, with CBG production in the range of 10 tonnes to 20 tonnes per day. The estimated investment in a 10-tonne-per-day plant is around Rs 100 crore.
RIL's in-house team would be sourcing the feedstock for the plants. The company has also been in discussions with multiple sugar mills for sourcing sugarcane press mud and feedstock for CBG production, the people said.
«India produces nearly 230 million tonnes of