Skip to main content.

Biomass Energy development under Grameen Shakti :      

 

By now, GS installed nearly, about 8000 biogas( November, 2009) plant of size 1.6m3-70m3 gas production capacity per day, 370 commercial and 2000 domestic improved cook stoves. Grameen Shakti installed 3 experimental wind mills and one biomass gassifier. Grameen Shakti is now installing around 4000 systems per month i.e. about 50,000 systems annually.

Grameen Shakti has taken a massive program for the coming years which is aiming to install more 1 million biogas plants and 10 million improved cook stoves by the year 2015.

Integrated rural energy and waste management system through biogas technology

 

Biogas Program

In Bangladesh only 3% of the people enjoy the facility of natural gas coming to their homes through pipe lines. The lucky few mostly live in the cities. Most of the Bangladesh’s rural people depend on biomass, crop residues, plant debris, animal dung and wood for fuel creating deforestation, flood, soil erosion etc.Women and children, on whom the burden of collecting fuel falls, suffer the most. They are the worst victims of indoor air pollution such as smokes in the kitchens.

GS believes that biogas technology is one of the best means to provide natural gas to the largest number of rural people. It can provide them with pollution free, efficient energy for cooking and at the same time protect them from diseases by giving them a cleaner environment. Biogas technology can be used to implement a sustainable waste management program suitable for rural areas, as wastes of all sorts are transformed into biogas or slurry.

GS has been successful in promoting and constructing both domestic and larger sizes biogas plants to rural villagers. Impact on biogas plant owners has been positive and demand is increasing day by day. All its clients are enjoying hassle free and pollution free energy for cooking and business activities. Bangladesh has the potential for developing 4 million biogas plants. GS intends to further scale up its successful pilot project and develop a 5 year action plan for expanding biogas program in Bangladesh.

GS has developed an integrated and sustainable model for expanding biogas program. The program is based on market approach. GS plays the role of a facilitator, not of a provider. GS does not provide any subsidies, but arranges for soft loans. GS depends on the goodwill of the community for its success. Key features of the program are:

Biogas Plants : Offering Fuel, Health and Income Solutions

 

Biogas plants giving the rural people especially their women the opportunity to cook in a pollution free environment – smokeless kitchens. It has also reduced their cooking time, rescued them from the burden of collecting fuel. (Case 1 : Ruksana Parveen using biogas for cooking)

 

Increasing price of kerosene, diesel and other conventional energy sources has made biogas technology an attractive alternative for many rural households. Many rural households are buying biogas at Tk 500- Tk. 300 per month and finding this alternative more cost effective than traditional sources. Therefore owners of domestic size biogas plants are not only using biogas themselves, they are also selling this gas to their neighbours. They are also using the slurry to increase their agricultural yields. (Case 2 : Haji Fazal Ali making extra income from renting biogas to others). Small businesses such as tea-stalls and small street side hotels are also renting biogas from others to meet their energy needs.

 

Biogas technology has become very popular among poultry owners. They are constructing medium to large sized plants to get rid of their poultry wastes and at the same time earn extra income through selling of biogas and slurry. (Case 3: Khaled Hossein using biogas to produce energy and generate income).

 

Orphanages and some industries have become interested in biogas technology to meet their energy needs and generate income. For example, Muslim Mission has constructed biogas plants on its premise and has signed agreement with GS to manufacture and promote organic fertilizers. Akber Ali, a mid scale business from Jessore manufactures bitumen as well as operating a steel work. His large factory is co-fueled by a biogas plant. Though he has a poultry farm, he buys poultry droppings and cow dung from surrounding farmers. Grameen Dnaone plans to set up biogas plants to power its rural based industry.

Financing Biogas Plants

  • The buyer pays 25% of the total cost as down payment. The remaining 75% of the cost is to be repaid through 24 monthly installments with 8% service charge (flat rate) within 2 years.

  • The buyer can construct his plant with his own funds under the supervision of GS engineers. In this case, half of the technical and supervision fees will be paid as advance and the rest will be paid after the commissioning of the plant.

Community Biogas Plants

 

Bangladesh is one of the most densely populated countries of the world. Most people especially in the rural areas live either as joint families or as groups where each household joins another household, usually relatives living very near each other. GS has already identified the rural households which have the potentiality of setting up biogas plants. Joint families and relatives living near each other can share the cost and benefit of owning and operating a biogas plant. GS is also seeking to bring low income groups under its biogas program by linking them with micro-credit as well as providing them with alternative ways to pay back. For example, a farmer may be provided with livestock so he may set up a biogas plant and at the same time generate income.

 

Linking biogas technology with poultry and organic fertilizer business

 

GS is linking up biogas technology with live stock and poultry business including  agriculture and fisheries to develop a sustainable biogas program. Poultry firms are interested in biogas technology because it helps them to get rid of poultry wastes and at the same time meet their energy needs as well as  earn extra income  by selling biogas and slurry. Same is true for livestock owners. Farmers would be interested in buying slurry from biogas plant owners because this reduces their farming costs and increases their yield. Many enterprises who do not have poultry or livestock are also interested in biogas plants. Others own too few poultry or live stock to construct  biogas plants which would  meet their energy needs. These people can buy poultry litter or cow dung from poultry and live stock owners for their biogas plants. Therefore an intermediary entrepreneur class would develop who will sell poultry litter, cow dung and slurry linking biogas technology with agriculture and live stock business.

 

Grameen SHakti is promoting bio-digester to produce both clean burning biogases. The residues to be used in the field as fertilizer or in the ponds for fish cultivation.

  • Energy Resource  : Biogas Digester

  • Type of installation : House hold

  • No of installation : 8000(November 2009)

  • Future plan – total installation of SHS by 2010 : 200,000 plants

  • Capacity of installation : 1.8X104 cft  

  • Location of Installation : Sirajganj, Pabna, Rangpur, Dinajpur District of Bangladesh

  • Present Condition : Functioning 

    •

  • Installation done under Grameen Agriculture Foundation

 

Installation done under Grameen Agriculture Foundation More 30 Biogas Plants being installed from Grameen Shakti's won programme

 

 

Organic Fertilizer Program

Excessive farming and use of chemical fertilizers have damaged soil fertility of Bangladesh. GS has undertaken a program to develop organic fertilizers from slurry and market these as a supplement of chemical fertilizers through entrepreneurs. Selected entrepreneurs will promote, and distribute GS developed organic fertilizers while GS will provide the required technical assistance and ensure quality control. Slurry – the byproduct of biogas has the ability to safeguard organic materials such as nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium, which increases it’s standard as a fertilizer and ensures higher agricultural production. Soil Research Department of University of Dhaka, Bangladesh Agriculture University has verified that organic fertilizers developed by GS have very little harmful ingredients. Especially, GS organic fertilizers produced from poultry litter are very good for acidic soil and helps to reduce acidity and aluminum poisoning.

GS has signed agreement with two organizations to manufacture and promote organic fertilizers. This is the first step towards the implementation of GS’s goal to provide Bangladeshi farmers with environment friendly, high quality organic fertilizers. GS hopes to sign similar agreement with more organizations in the future. Manufacture and marketing of organic fertilizers can be a viable business in the context of Bangladesh. A 3 ,m3 cow dung based biogas plant can produce more than 8 thousand kilograms of slurry which is equivalent to 224 kg of urea, 1120 kg of TSP and 114 kg of mp fertilizer. An entrepreneur can earn Tk 16,000 from selling this slurry at a minimum rate of Tk 2. per kg.

Financing Biogas Plants

  • The buyer pays 25% of the total cost as down payment. The remaining 75% of the cost is to be repaid through 24 monthly installments with 8% service charge (flat rate) within 2 years.
  • The buyer can construct his plant with his own funds under the supervision of GS engineers. In this case, half of the technical and supervision fees will be paid as advance and the rest will be paid after the commissioning of the plant.

How Woman Empowered by the GrameenShakti's  Renewable Energy Programme ?
Turning Wastes into Wealth Grameen Shakti’s  Biogas Program 
Micro-credit linked with income generation, cost saving coupled with efficient after sales service & quality control has made biogas plants popular among the rural people 
Biogas plants convert animal dung & litter into  pollution free  biogas  & slurry
Biogas can be used to cook food, ligthing hazaks  and producing electricity through generators
Slurry can be used as organic fertilizer, food for fish 

 
 
Grameen Shakti Biogas Program
•         Around  6,000 biogas plants constructed  with around 300 large size biogas plants.
•         Over 30 biogas plants are  producing electricity.
•         1000 local  masons trained.
•         1000 Demonstration Plots  to popularize  organic fertilizers produced from slurry.   
 
  
 
Paving The Way to A Green Economy GS has set a goal of 500, 000 biogas plants by 2015
 
ü Income is higher than installments for domestic biogas plants users as their reduce their expenditure for  fuel & fertilizers
ü Larger plant owners  can sell electricity or  gas, reduce fertilizer cost and earn extra income through increased agricultural production.
ü Tea stall owners, food shops etc are renting biogas from larger plants thus reducing their energy cost and increasing their business. 
ü Healthier & cleaner environment as  C02 emission, risk for indoor air pollution, biomass depen-dence is reduced

Rural Family can reduce dependence  on chemical fertilizers by using slurry, which is cheaper & healthier for the soil
  
Women has been rescued for household burden to take up income generating activities    

 A rural woman cooking with biogas
  “I longer have to collect fuel wood, The kitchen is clean and I do not have to suffer from smoke or heat.   I can also do household activities under the bright hazak light. I am also earning  extra income by selling biogas to one more household and we use the slurry in our field”. 
Example of Green Woman Entrepreneur 
I have rented out a total of six cookers. One of them is commercial. From the commercial I get TK 700. My installment is TK 2700 and I get TK 2100 for renting the burners. The gas cooker has benefited me in many ways. “I am earning money and it doesn’t blacken my pots and pans. I am also generating electricity. It saves a lot of time as I don’t have to clean blackened pots and pans.”  Biogas Plant Owner,  Mowna

 
 

Training Woman Masons in Monga Affected Area of Chilmari

 
 Grameen Shakti Improved Cooking Stove Program One  million stoves by 2010  covering  35, 000 villages
“Indoor air pollution could lead to an epidemic of breathing problems that could kill faster than SARS or the bird flu.” Kirk Smith, Professor of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley
Improved Cooking Stoves Replace
Traditional Stoves :
q Reducing Cutting down of trees
q Protects women from in-door pollution
q Creates local jobs Protect the soil

  
 

Creating  Pollution free Healthy Environment & Green Jobs For Women  
q Low cost  one, two, three mouthed stoves which stops in-door air pollution   
q 1000 ICS  technicians cum entrepreneurs many of them women , have  been created
q Nearly 35 manufacturing units set up for smooth supply of grates, chimneys etc.
q Local Level Demonstrations/ Fairs organized which especially attract women  
  
Women take part in ICS training in Rangamati
  
More & more rural women are switching to Improved Cook Stoves  
ü Smoke free kitchens, no soot ,  saves women’ s  lives
ü Face , chest   protected from stove heat
ü Swifter and better cooking
ü More free time,
ü Saves biomass can be used as fertilizer
ü Saves 50% firewood & cooking expenses  

 
“I will make sure that my daughter is married off to a home with Improved stove”
 
A Woman ICS Technician in her own words   
 
“I am very pleased to have the training to become a technician making clean stoves –it’s the first income I have had and the work is beautiful-it saves the environment, saves on firewood  and means we no longer have sooty kitchens”.
Woman entrepreneur making Improved Cooking Stoves

 
•         7.5 million Solar Home Systems
•         500, 000 biogas plants 
•         10 million Improved stoves
•         2000 rural offices with 10,000 social engineers covering all Bangladesh   

 

To reach the above goal GS will give special focus on creating 100, 000 Green Women Entrepreneurs who will promote, install, maintain  Solar Home Systems,  Biogas Plants and Improved Stoves for Grameen Shakti.
 
Last Updated:  12 November, 2009