Waste-2-Energy Potential to Scale-up Renewable Energy Access: Examples of Biofuels

Waste generated in rural and urban areas generally ends up unmanaged causing serious environmental and health issues due to lack of waste management systems. The circular economy approach provides the opportunity to generate added value from waste including the generation of energy from waste. BioCNG/Biogas (a Waste-2-Energy product) can be produced from organic wastes (including agriculture residues) generated, which can be used for power, transport, and thermal applications. The absence of appropriate policy framework and institutional capacity, lack of appropriate business models, access to affordable finance, and limited awareness and knowledge are the key challenges associated with the large-scale deployment of Waste-2-Energy projects.

In this session, presenters highlighted and shared their experience on various aspects of the Waste-2-Energy sector in India, Indonesia, and Thailand. The session had participation from governments, industries, and the finance sector to discuss the country-specific policies, technologies, business models, and financing facilities for the Waste-2-Energy sector. This session also helped map the challenges and opportunities associated with various levels of the value chain. We also captured the recent developments in the sector in the region and opportunities to accelerate and scale up the Waste-2-Energy projects in the target countries.